The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)

The Center for Teaching and Learning(CTL) Deb Lawrence and Tina Mancuso August 2013

5-Minute Faculty Development Workshop • Think of one thing that you would like students to leave with on the first day in one of your courses, and why. Write it down. • Pairing with someone near you, talk about what that one thing is, and why it’s important. • Brainstorm for your partner: What are some things one could do to help bring that first-day wish to reality? • Groups?

Mission of the CTL • Raise the prestige of teaching by seeing teaching as part of a cycle of inquiry and rooted in a deep literature on learning. • Build on campus a community of scholars devoted to advancing teaching in their disciplines and in interdisciplinary and general education courses. • Support innovation and risk taking among faculty.

Where is the CTL? Troy – basement of the Shea Learning Center Open Office Hours: Thursdays 1:00 – 2:00pm Albany – 2nd floor of Froman Hall in Room 206 Open Office Hours: Wednesday 12:00 – 1:30 • Please feel free to email for a meeting at other times Come browse the CTL collection or set a time to talk to us about something you are interested in.

Kinds of Programming • Pedagogical lunches with faculty presenting and sharing their work • Support for scholarship on teaching and learning • Outside speakers and demonstrations • Faculty Learning Communities • Workshops on new ideas and approaches • Link assessment data with teaching improvement • Make new research available to faculty • Individual Consultation

Faculty Learning Communities New Faculty • begins Wednesday September 4 from 8:30 – 10:00 am • first meeting will be in Troy at the Shea Learning Center • meets every third Wednesday from that date - alternating campuses • focus is on what faculty need/want to know to have a successful first year Active Learning Strategies • based on results from faculty survey conducted over the summer • begins Monday September 9 from 2:30 – 4:00 pm • first meeting will be in Troy at the Shea Learning Center • meets every third Monday from that date - alternating campuses

Student Assessment • Need for early and frequent assessment of student learning • Can be formative; does not need to be summative • What the literature says: In a comprehensive review of 87 meta-analyses of studies of what makes a difference to student achievement, Hattie (1987) reports that the most powerful single influence is feedback. Similarly, Black & Wiliam’s (1998) comprehensive review of formative assessment emphasizes the extraordinarily large and consistent positive effects that feedback has on learning compared with other aspects of teaching. (Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Issue 1, 2004-05, G. Gibbs, C. Simpson, Conditions Under Which Assessment Supports Students’ Learning, p. 9+)

Benefits of Early and Frequent Assessment • Six-week warnings and midterm grades • Importance of everyone participating so we can see patterns • Does not need to “count” toward the course grade • Just something to give you a sense of how the student is doing

Quick AssessmentExercise Use Poll Everywhere to get a quick sense of what your students are thinking. www.polleverywhere.com – free for up to 40 responses

How To Vote via Texting EXAMPLE Standard texting rates only (worst case US $0.20) We have no access to your phone number Capitalization doesn’t matter, but spaces and spelling do TIPS

How To Vote via PollEv.com EXAMPLE Capitalization doesn’t matter, but spaces and spelling do TIP

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: For most of my courses, I have at least ...

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I am familiar with minute papers.

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I have used minute papers in my own cour...

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I am familiar with the Muddiest Point te...

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I have used the Muddiest Point technique...

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I am familiar with concept maps.

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I have used concept maps in my own cours...

Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. Poll: I am eager to learn more about how I cou...

Index Cards What was the title theme of President Scrimshaw’s opening remarks?

Resources • Subscription to Teaching Professor Newsletter (link at FDC page, via Library) Teaching Professor • Can sign up for free Faculty Focus Newsletter (www.facultyfocus.com) • Magna Commons (campus subscription to videos with accompanying powerpoints, handouts, etc.) http://www.magnapubs.com/magna-commons/ • Magna Online Seminars (per-seminar fee basis) • Chronicle of Higher Education – On Hiring Feature - http://chronicle.com/blogs/onhiring/teaching-the-program/40655?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Questions/Comments?

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)