Places to Learn: Changing the Culture of Teaching and Learning WASC ARC April 7, 2011

1. Places to Learn: Changing the Culture of Teaching and LearningWASC ARC April 7, 2011 Carole Splendore Learning Assessment Coordinator, Chabot College Scott Hoshida Coordinator of Teaching and learning Center, Berkeley City College Jennifer Lange Center for Teaching and Learning Coordinator, Chabot College Cleavon SmithNorth Bay Learning Network Regional Coordinator, Berkeley City College

2. Engaging the 6 Cultures of the AcademyWilliam H. Bergquist, Kenneth Pawlak, Jossey-Bass, 2008 To improve functioning or enact cultural change, one should first understand the cultures that are at work, so that one can engage them …

3. The Collegial Culture • Finds meaning primarily in the disciplines • Values: faculty research and scholarship, shared governance • Believes in: rationality • Goal: the generation of knowledge, the development of specific values among young men and women who are the future leaders of our society

4. The Managerial Culture • Finds meaning primarily in the organization of work that is directed towards specific goals • Values: fiscal responsibility, effective supervisory skills • Believes in: its capacity to define and measure its goals effectively • Goal: the teaching of specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes in students so they might become successful and responsible citizens.

5. The Developmental Culture • Finds meaning primarily in the: creation of activities furthering the personal and professional growth of all • Values: fiscal personal openness, service to others, systematic institutional research and curricular planning • Believes in the: desire of all men and women to attain their own personal maturation, while helping others to become more mature • Goal: the encouragement of potential for growth for all

6. The Advocacy Culture • Finds meaning primarily in the: establishment of equitable politics, and procedures for the distribution of resources and benefits within the institution • Values: confrontation and fair bargaining • Believes in the: ultimate role of power • Goal: the establishment of new and more liberating social attitudes and structures.

7. The Virtual Culture • Finds meaning primarily in: responding to the knowledge generation and dissemination capacity of the postmodern world • Values: the global perspective of open, shared, responsible educational systems • Believes in: the ability to make sense of the fragmentation and ambiguity that exists • Goal: broadening the global learning network

8. The Tangible Culture • Finds meaning primarily in: its roots, its community, and its spiritual grounding • Values: the predictability of a value-based, face-to-face education in a stable physical location • Believes in: the ability of established systems and technologies to instill the institution’s values • Goal: the honoring and reintegration of learning from a local perspective

9. Berkeley City College – Teaching and Learning Center Values • Collaborative & Inclusive • Research and Inquiry-based • Student-Oriented • Sustainable Collaborative Inquiry: A tool that matches these values

10. Comparing Inquiry and Assessment

11. Sample Inquiries • How does service-learning impact students’ feeling of community? • What do students think they should understand and feel by the end of their first semester at BCC? • How can we improve students’ research and writing skills in English 1a? • How can we best incorporate technologyto address our language learners’ needs?

12. Development Efforts in a Collegial Culture Goals: • Move faculty from a compliance mentality by providing a framework for engaging the desire to have meaningful conversations about teaching, and thus draw them forward in the process. • Create conversations in order to build recognition of common dilemmas and solutions across disciplines.

13. Development Efforts in a Collegial Culture Process: • Bi-weekly readings onto current research in the field (by email) • Cognition Book Club – monthly discussions on chapters from “The Art of Changing the Brain” • Workshops • Learning Styles • Metacognition • Addressing the Emotional Needs of Learners • Assessment of Deep Learning • Stages of Intellectual Development • Using Learning Objects to Create Engagement • Variable Flex Activity – Classroom visits both in and out of discipline • Brown Bag Lunches on “Applying the Science of Learning” • Flex Day Guest Speaker and Discussions

14. Development Efforts in a Collegial Culture Flex Day – Reflecting on Assessment Data • Guest speaker Dr. James Zull spoke on how learning takes place in the brain • Inter-disciplinary groups discussing examples of cognitive teaching practices • Disciplinary groups discussing how they can improve student learning by viewing their lessons through the cognitive learning model

15. Working within the Collegial Culture • Work within discipline group, SLOAC reps to lead • Avoid mass trainings as soon as you have the infrastructure to do so • Understand reactions are cutting across values, invite those values into the practices • See a rep. from a discipline first to assess the situation, determine goals, and gain an ally

16. A Case Study: Inquiry AND Assessment to design an accelerated basic skills model at Berkeley City College English 1A SLO Review Findings • Students not faring well in “Research” outcome • Existing departmental assessment tool inadequate Developmental English Program informal pedagogy “chats” • “Exponential Attrition and the Promise of Acceleration in Developmental English and Math”  by K. Hern and M. Snell Converging Conclusion • If we want students writing better research papers, we should give them more practice IN and BEFORE ENG1A” Thorny Question • “What if Pre-1A students score what the department has deemed to be passing for 1A students?” Thorny Answer • 1A Credit by Examination

17. A Case Study: Inquiry AND Assessment to design an accelerated basic skills model at Berkeley City College

18. A Case Study: Inquiry AND Assessment to design an accelerated basic skills model at Berkeley City College The result: • More conversations • More confusion • More excitement • More fear • More fun • Higher Expectations • Greater sense of possibilities • More apprehension • Greater appreciation for collaborative inquiry • More ownership of assessment • More mistakes • More student engagement • Greater departmental identity and pride • The list goes on!