Reflecting on presentations at Lilly South (Feb 2008) Conference

This is my first blog anywhere!

I am revising my brief comments, initially posted on the date cited, about the Lilly South (Feb 2008) Conference, held in Greensboro NC. The website for the Lilly South conference is provided here.

I attended the entire conference, and attended a number of sessions, including the plenary sessions. I also presented a paper on Situational Leadership along with my coauthor, Michael Dutch of Greensboro College.

About my paper

The paper, entitled “Applying situational leadership in the classroom: Guiding the student to self-leadership," has since been revised and submitted to the Journal of Management Education. The paper (this latest version) is available from the following source.

Applying Situation...

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A summary of the paper follows:

Situational leadership theory (SLT) is an appealing concept. While its application in industry presents challenges, the nature of the educational classroom further complicates its use. As currently developed applying SLT methods in the classroom could create issues with perceptions of fairness. Additionally, instructors may not have the means to appropriately determine each of their students’ ability and willingness for each learning event.

To counter these problems we suggest that the responsibility for the level of structure be given to the student. In this role instructors facilitate the learning while students have the ability to control the level of direction they receive. In doing so, we provide further definition to the concept of self-leadership and provide suggestions for its application in the classroom. Applications of SLT in a team setting are also discussed.

About selected presentations

There were many excellent sessions at the conference, including a number of plenary sessions. Currently, the program is still available on the web (click here). I will provide brief highlights of a few of the sessions which I found most helpful. I have handouts and notes from most of them, and would be happy to share and/or discuss.

Session #1. (Plenary) How to wake up your students: Getting started in active learning, by Ed Neal.

Ed prefaced the session by stating research showing that only 11% of college students have good sleep habits, as well as the fact that there are physiological limits on attention spans. An 8-question test brought home the severe weaknesses of the traditional lecture method, as found in empirical studies. Therefore a number of ideas for structuring the class for active student involvement were provided. Three preconditions are:

1. Preparation. Change student expectations on the first day of class, and reinforce with out-of-class assignments that prepare students for active learning

2. Motivation. Create challenging exercises—easy work is boring. Tell students the purpose, and require them to specify what they have learned at the end of class.

3. Absence of fear. Develop effective facilitation skills; reward students for their contributions; reward risk-taking.

The remainder of the session was devoted to Questioning Strategies, In-Class Writing Exercises, Classroom Assessment Techniques, and mini-Cases.

Session #21. The Graphic Syllabus, Linda Nilson.
Premised on the idea that standard syllabi present the course in a linear fashion, and don’t get much reading by the students. She came up with the idea of a graphic syllabus when she decided to share “the picture in her head” of the course with her students. A graphic representation of some sort is much more meaningful to students, and provides needed structure for the brain. I drew a map of my Business Policy class and explained it to the other participants.

Session #85. Facilitating student transformation by understanding the human change process, by Dianne Garret.
The session had the most emotional impact upon me. It cannot easily be summarized. Reading the PowerPoint handout would not convey the energy and excitement that was conveyed by Dianne. Some of the themes discussed were Why most change initiatives fail, Emotional intelligence, The impact of human energy, Emotional flow during the term, creating classroom climate, and many others. Very powerful.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this annual teaching conference to those who are seriously interested in improving their teaching, and the learning of their students.

Unfortunately, this material has sat in a folder ever since the conference. How do we as faculty keep from being overwhelmed by service expectations, committee meetings and work, e-mail, numerous administrative and clerical requirements, and other things that eat up our time day after day, month after month, year after year? That is another issue! However, it is one that I wish to delve into from a research standpoint. How can we as faculty improve our productivity? And not just in research and writing, but in all or our activities.

Bob Herring

North Carolina Distance Learning Alliance (NCDLA)

This conference was a wonderful experience for anyone interested in learning about a variety of issues related to Distance Learning. My interest stems from the fact that we are looking at increasing the distance learning component of the Physical Therapy curriculum as we prepare to transition to the DPT when approved.

Although the majority of academic institutions represented were part of the NC Community College system, I think that it is important for those of us in the NC University system to be aware of what types of services and facilities are available to facilitate student learning and student preparation to advance into the 4 year university system.

Of particular interest to me were the following presentations:

1. Simulation-Based Learning Using Interactive 3 Dimensional Objects. Fayetteville Technical Community College will house a new i3D facility which has tremendous implications for a variety of learning experiences with long range implications for enhancement of Workforce development throughout the state. Their target date for introduction to system schools is June 2008. WSSU needs to get involved because there are potential applications for a number of our undergraduate and graduate level program.
2. SACS/COC Friendly Distance Policies. This program was presented by the Distance Learning Coordinator at Bladen Community College. Given the activity on this campus related to our upcoming SACS review and on site visit, I found this program very informative. The presenter shared a great deal of information in the form of handouts and made herself available to assist anyone on system campuses as needed. Clearly, the Distance Learning efforts at WSSU must be coordinated and managed to be sure that we meet all necessary requirements, especially in terms of documents and records that we might need to have available.
3. The TEACH Act: Help or Hindrance? The presenter was Peggy E. Hoon, J.D., Special Assistant to the Provost for Copyright Administration at North Carolina State University. She discussed implications of the TEACH Act relative to copyright infringement and distance learning. This is certainly something that must be addressed as this university moves forward along that path. On the NC State website, there is a TEACH Act Toolkit available for anyone at any UNC system institution to use. Needless to say as WSSU moves forward with the development of distance learning, copyright laws will continue to be of great importance. This was a very informative and engaging presentation.

Dr. Yolanda Rainey

Blackboard's Competition

The 2008 TLT conference in Raleigh was even better than the earlier versions of the conference that I have gone to, and there were many times when I had to choose one of three or more interesting-sounding sessions. However, one I particularly wanted to make time for was "A Study of Three CMS Systems: Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai." The idea of open-source course management systems intrigues me, and I am very interested in alternatives to Blackboard.

The session presenters (Biwu Yang, Sharon Collins, Matt Long, and Ginny Sconiers) were from East Carolina University. They described a CMS platform evaluation project they are conducting, using all three CMS systems at once. They were able to recruit a number of faculty members to use Moodle, Sakai, and then Blackboard 7.2 in successive semesters. (This struck me as being so remarkable that I double-checked with one of the presenters afterward, to make sure I had heard correctly.)

The study is continuing, but the presenters reported that Moodle was challenging to get going, but users liked it for its "social feel": faculty said it "feels good." However, Moodle lacks a good conversion tool for moving materials from another CMS platform, and faculty needed a good deal of help in reformating their courses.

Sakai does have a conversion tool that reformats material from Blackboard. However, importing outside content, particularly tests and quizzes, presented some problems. The platform has only a few templates, and there are so many settings for tests and quizzes that learning to use the system is complicated.

I'm still shaking my head at the idea that faculty members taught their courses using three different platforms in three successive semesters, and it was clear that this test required a great deal of technical support, something that is probably more feasible for a large school like ECU. Therefore, I have no desire to see us try to replicate this study, but I do want to follow up on ECU's work and look for another report from them next year.

The ECU page describing the "CMS Platform Project" has links to more information about each system, a "contact us" link, and a search box (at the top) that can be used to find the presenters' e-mail addresses.

I found what seems to be Moodle's home page at http://moodle.org/, and Sakai is at http://sakaiproject.org/. Both these sites have demonstration courses and other materials describing the systems.

The presenters did mention that ECU is hosting Moodle sites for some instructors at other schools, but they didn't mention whether they are accepting any more applications.

(Re)Roots and (Re)Routes: Transatlantic Connections in Language and Literature

First, let me thank CETL for assisting me in attending the CLA (College Language Association) Conference in Charleston, SC from April 10-12. (http://www.clascholars.org/)

The College Language Association is a professional organization that attracts teachers, scholars, and researchers from all across the United States and Canada. At the convention, scholars gathered together to share ideas and recent theories in the English field. Attending the conference provided me an excellent opportunity to network with peers, participate in workshops, and engage in interactive sessions. As an instructor of core courses at this institution and the director of a computer laboratory that serves the entire campus population, I am constantly looking for innovative ways to mobilize the English language. Educators and presenters at this convention stress the importance of bringing English “back to life” in our college classrooms.

CLA offered a wellspring for conversations centering on intellectual developments and innovative teaching practices. I attended sessions on Toni Morrison's Beloved and how the main character deals with trauma and also a session that looked at masculinity in literature and literacy. The latter session was specifically enlightening because it did not focus on masculinity or masculine themes within literature, but focused on how to look at literature and literacy in general through a masculine lens or through the eyes of prominent minority writers such as Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois.

I hope to attend this conference next year in Maryland and hope to learn even more and hear more from my distinguished colleagues in the field.

Thanx

Darius M Cureton

The NPTE Workshop for Faculty

Thanks to CETL for supporting my attendance at the NPTE workshop for Faculty. One of the most difficult parts of my job as an Assistant Professor is constructing tests.

This conference focused the entire first day on the process of writing multiple choice questions. They presented the Principles of effective multiple choice item writing and reviewed the common terminology of test questions. The rules for writing items and adding levels of difficulty by changing the word order and the amount of critical thinking needed to answer the questions was also covered.

The conference also covered avoiding cues that may lead a good guesser to the right answer even though they may not know the material.

The second day of the conference covered the National Physical Therapy Exam for Licensure. The process of determining what is "entry level" knowledge and how this can be tested was covered. They defined the entire process from survey to item writing to question banks and then to pulling the right questions to produce different tests that are of the same difficulty was covered.

This was a fascinating workshop and since I am the Chair of the Comprehensive Exam Committee in the Physical Therapy Department of the School of Health Sciences, I will be able to use this information over and over again.

Thanks again for this opportunity.

Building a Study Skills Course from the Ground Up

I attended a Developmental Education conference recently that was sponsored by Houghton Mifflin to help faculty meet the challenges they face when teaching developmental courses. One session dealt with building a study skills course. Of the lessons learned during this session the one that could be applied to any course is to get students to engage in their own learning. One school has a course that is team taught with an instructor and a student that is considered to be a facilitator rather than a mentor. The student is trained to help the instructor in the course by keeping the discussion going, writing items on the board and help with group work. The one thing that I found most interesting was that the student was allowed time at the end of selected classes to discuss student concerns without the instructor present. The general feeling was that students have concerns that they will discuss with peers but don't want faculty to know about such as financial problems, adjustment problems and homesickness. Their peers have possible experienced all of these and can better relate to the student. In selecting students for facilitators we were caution to keep in mind that the brightest student may not be the best facilitator. If they have never experienced failure they will not also be able to relate to students that are having a hard time. Most students will listen to some one that can say "I remember being in a similar situation and this is how I resolved it...".

Carolyn Anderson

Simple Media Creation for Librarians

This was a very good session that was presented at the UNC TLT 2008 Conference. Although it is titled for librarians, everyone could benefit from using the tools that were presented. Audacity was used to create 5 minute updates on what is new at the library. It could also be used to create review sessions for classes or to introduce concepts before a class. Audacity is free and is available on the web at the Audacity website. Another tool that was presented was Photstory which allows you to create a movie from digital pictures. Photo Story is also free from Microsoft at the photostory website. If you want to spend some money Camtasia was also demonstrated. It allows you to do scrren captures of keystrokes which is good for creating training videos.

Carolyn L. Anderson

Developmental Education Conference

Two weeks ago, I attended Houghton Miffin's "Meeting the Challenge, A Faculty Programs Conference on Developmental Education" at Disney's Coronada Springs. I attended sessions on Conceptualization in Basic Mathematics, Engaging All Students in Mathematics, and Teaching Study Skills for Mathematics. I also heard a keynote speech on Embracing the Challenge of the First Year.

In the Conceptualization in Basic Mathematics session, we examined exercises that would encourage students to apply and formulate mathematical concepts. The exercises presented were ones that asked students to determine impossible answers, to decide the operation required, and to explore the reasonableness of an answer.

In the Engaging All Students in Mathematics session, we discussed the importance of engaging all students in mathematics, and we looked at ways that we can ensure that all of our students learn mathematics.

The session on Teaching Study Skills for Mathematics was extremely informative. It focused on how math study skills can be incorporated into mathematics courses. We discussed student motivation, reading the text, completing homework, taking notes, test anxiety, and test-taking skills.

The keynote speech was given by Mary Stuart Hunter, the Director of the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina. She shared theories and research about why students have such difficult times transitioning from high school to college. She described the role faculty can play in this transitional period, and she described various programs offered by colleges and universities.

This conference was great!

Helping student perform better in Science Courses

Last month, I had an opportunity to attend a conference on Teaching and Learning (TLC) at San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA (March 17-20, 2008 IABR &TLC). A few presentations during conference reinforced my own approach to help student perform better in science courses.

I was particularly impressed by the approach of William Amadio from Rider University in NJ who delivered a lecture on “Self Expression in Technical Courses: Making it Happen”. We had a lengthy discussion after his lecture and compared our approaches which were similar in many respect. As some of you may know, I am strong proponent of students taking ownership of their learning process. In the courses I teach, I facilitate team learning in the class rooms. Because this process provides me with the opportunity to observe possible flaws or need of improvement in a student’s learning. It also provides me with insight into their minds which some time is missed during formal class room settings. In all my courses, I include group projects, group research and presentations along with conventional lectures by me. I make sure that at least one lecture from the syllabus is taught by team of students. This activity in my classes provides students an opportunity to gather analyze and present information in a logical manner on their own (all higher level of learning). I have seen during student’s presentations, other students are better motivated to analyze and critique information presented to them which, they failed to do when a teacher is presenting the same information. This way I have found a way to interject analysis, synthesis and evaluation in student’s learning process.

This team learning activity also provides student an opportunity to peep into minds of their teachers during class room lectures and a basis for comparison to evaluate their subject matter presentation vis a vis of their teacher. William Amadio and I agreed that there are enormous advantages of team learning. We have seen best student work and best student-teacher and student-student interaction ever. Since students are working on their projects that might have sprung a few problems, their questions were always focused and they were highly motivated during discussion.

One thing on which we agreed to disagree, during our discussion, was team composition. I mix student from higher-medium and low GPA pools representing a team, where as, he believed forming teams from similar GPA groups. I believe a low GPA student can learn a lot from high GPA student on punctuality, study behavior, self motivation, responsibility for ones learning and better communication skills. It also helps a low GPA student to know why he or she may not be getting better grades. In my opinion this realization opens up ones mind to propel him/her for better learning. Bill thought it makes better sense to group high GPA student and low GA student separately. That way low GPA student is also forced to do their group project on their own and not be dependent on a high GPA student.

We also discussed about benefits of small groups, assigning professional level problems, student teach themselves and their participation in a community to make students more responsible individuals. Over all it was a very enjoyable conference which was organized in a beautiful setting of San Juan.

Dinesh K. Singh, DVM, PhD
Department of Life Sciences, WSSU (4/4/08)