Workshops

Session A

Workshop 1: Writing Across the Curriculum

Carol Holder, CSU Channel Islands, and John Edlund, Cal Poly Pomona

Most faculty want to help their students write better, but few have training in fostering student writing skills. In addition, well-chosen writing assignments can help students develop deeper understanding and improve mastery of objectives in any course. Participants in this workshop will work with two leaders in the Writing Across the Curriculum movement, Carol Holder and John Edlund, to learn how to assign and assess student writing and to provide appropriate feedback to help students improve. Participants in this workshop will learn how to:

• Design effective writing assignments, give effective feedback, and evaluate written work efficiently.
• Use summaries, e-mails, journals, question/answer sessions, and other short "writing to learn" assignments to improve mastery of content (without increasing the time spent grading papers).
• Use scoring guides, rubrics, and other tools for holistic and analytical grading.
• Understand and respond to the errors that ESL and non-standard dialect speakers make in their written work.
• Communicate to students the conventions of the disciplinary genres they use and teach.
• Prevent plagiarism through good assignment design, and detect and deal with plagiarism when it occurs.

This workshop will provide a forum in which faculty from different disciplines and at different stages of their careers can discuss writing assignments and student writing.

Workshop 2: The Ethics of Teaching: Dealing with Sticky Situations

Miriam Rosalyn Diamond, Northeastern University

A student who did not perform well in your course asks for a letter of reference. You hear that some students were offended by a comment you made in class. You run into some of your students at an off-campus community activity in which you participate regularly. A few students request that you reconsider their grades to help them get into graduate school. Someone asks for extra time on a test, but cannot verify having a disability. What do you do?

This workshop is designed to prepare faculty to address ethical dilemmas that commonly arise in teaching. The goals of the session are to increase participant awareness of the types of ethical situations they are likely to face, collaboratively discuss and address common ethical concerns, identify key ethical principles associated with university teaching, brainstorm alternate responses, and choose a course of action based on grounded criteria.

This workshop will address ways to develop professional, yet accessible and responsive interactions with students. Participants will discuss how to:

• foster sensitivity in multicultural classrooms
• deal with grade expectations and concerns use humor appropriately when teaching
• maintain confidentiality on student performance
• deal with situations in which they have made a faux pas foster ethical behavior among students
• apply ethical standards to determine appropriate actions and responses

Participants in this highly interactive workshop will engage in small group work, review case studies, share experiences and concerns, and role play situations to identify key issues and appropriate reactions to common teaching dilemmas. They will receive guidelines to support them in ethical decision-making, develop a list of campus resources that provide assistance, and consider the "Top Ten Tips for Ethical Teaching." This session is appropriate for both new and experienced faculty.

Workshop 3: Supporting Student Learning with the BlackBoard Course Management System

Gerry Hanley, CSU Office of the Chancellor

Many CSU faculty have been utilizing BlackBoard to supplement traditional courses or to replace some or all face-to-face class meetings. BlackBoard allows faculty to distribute materials, facilitate small group projects and collaborative learning, administer tests, and facilitate student-student and faculty-student interactions. Participants in this highly interactive workshop will hear from colleagues who have made effective and innovative use of this course management system, critically reflect on CSU-authored online course materials, consider how BlackBoard can be harnessed to improve student learning and to help faculty manage their workload, and share their own experiences with this system. Faculty who are experienced BlackBoard users, who are considering the use of BlackBoard, or who would like to critically examine the effective use of Web-based course management systems are encouraged to participate. They also will have the opportunity to interact with BlackBoard staff and explore with them the opportunities and challenges associated with using this tool.

Workshop 4: Collaborative Learning

Amy Driscoll, CSU Monterey Bay

Collaborative Learning is a teaching and learning approach that enables students to achieve both academic and interpersonal outcomes (e.g., collaboration, leadership, communication skills). Collaborative learning is a good fit for constructivist pedagogy in which students make meaning, for assets-based models of education, and for curricula best developed through active and engaged learning. Research indicates that students generally achieve better when they are engaged and when they have an active role in their own leaning. Participants in this workshop will experience a collaborative learning environment as they consider the many decisions required for effective use of this learning approach. Among those decisions are the specification of group purposes and functions, group size and composition, and group assignments. Participants will consider models for collaborative learning that range from brief group projects that occur within single class meetings to strategies that engage students in collaborative work groups for the entire term. They will learn how to:

• Design effective collaborative learning assignments
• Prepare students for effective group work
• Assess group work and participation
• Work with student diversity in collaborative learning approaches by varying levels of participation, roles, ways of contributing, and assessment processes.

Workshop participants are encouraged to bring course syllabi and learning objectives/outcomes so they can apply what they're learning to their own courses. Faculty who are new to collaborative learning as well as faculty who have experience with this approach are encouraged to participate.

Session B

Workshop 5: Reading Across the Curriculum

Carol Holder, CSU Channel Islands and John Edlund, Cal Poly Pomona

Most faculty expect their students to learn from written materials, including books, journals, and websites, and they recognize that reading skills are necessary for lifelong, independent learning. Faculty, however, are too often frustrated by problems such as student reluctance, avoidance, inability to read critically and actively, and difficulties talking and writing about what has been read. Although severe reading problems are more likely among lower division students, even graduate faculty are sometimes disappointed in their students' ability to read effectively. Participants in this workshop will collaborate with Carol Holder and John Edlund to develop a range of strategies for motivating, developing, and assessing college reading skills. They will learn about selective reading guides, graphic organizers, pre-reading assessments, reading journals, writing assignments based on readings, and discussion approaches-all strategies designed to help students take more responsibility for reading and learning from reading. This workshop is intended for faculty who recognize the importance of reading and who are concerned about helping their students practice and develop reading skills.

Workshop 6: Adaptive Teaching in a Diverse Classroom

Cynthia Desrochers and Merril Simon, CSU Northridge

Teaching in the 21st century requires a repertoire of skills to facilitate meaningful, connected learning. Because students vary tremendously in their cultural and personal attributes, including age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, learning styles, intellectual preparation, and work/family responsibilities, effective teaching requires an understanding of group process and a variety of pedagogical and communication strategies. For new teachers and even for more experienced teachers, preparing for a dynamic, engaged classroom experience requires awareness and skills that are used intentionally to facilitate discussion and involvement in the learning process. This is not easy! Meeting the students where they are and enabling them to learn with each other requires intellectual and instructional flexibility as well as a capacity to teach students how to hold dialogues across difference. This workshop will offer opportunities to learn and practice a variety of techniques to facilitate the active engagement of all learners. Strategies for addressing issues of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and levels of lifelong learning experience will be offered and practiced. Participants are invited to bring specific case studies, classroom assignments or other materials that offer challenges, as well as examples of effective teaching and learning in a diverse classroom. A reading list for further learning in these areas will be provided at the workshop.

Workshop 7: The Effective Use of Academic Technology

Vicki Casella and Kevin Kelly, San Francisco State University

Advances in technology have opened new opportunities for faculty to integrate technology-mediated instruction into classrooms and to provide Web-based learning environments to supplement or replace face-to-face instruction. CSU faculty have explored the use of presentation software, laboratory simulations, Web sites, virtual discussions, discipline-specific CD-ROMs, and learning materials provided through course management systems. Some uses of academic technology have been more effective than others, and participants in this workshop will see examples of a variety of strategies, hear from faculty who have made extensive use of technology, and share their own experiences as they explore what works in different situations, for whom, and why. Participants will critically analyze examples of PowerPoint presentations, online and video streamed course materials, threaded discussion topics, course syllabi, and web assignments; and they will reflect on how academic technology can be used to improve student learning and engagement, to offer access to non-traditional learners, and to prepare students for lifelong learning. Faculty who are using academic technology or who are considering its use are encouraged to participate in this workshop and to bring questions, share experiences, and come prepared to critically explore the effective use of academic technology.

Workshop 8: Motivating Students to Stay on Course

Jonathan Brennan, Mission College

Do some of your students appear to fall short of their potential? Do they lack self-management skills? Do you struggle to motivate them and to empower them to become effective partners in their own education? Participants in this very interactive session will explore the characteristics of successful students and seven domains of influence that educators can use to empower students to achieve more of their potential in college and in life. On Course strategies appeal to a variety of learning styles, have positive impact on student success and retention, and are based on ideas from innovators in higher education, psychology, business, sports, and personal effectiveness. Participants will leave with practical and proven learner-centered strategies that they can implement with their students immediately. If you want innovative strategies for empowering students (and yourself!) to achieve greater success--academic, personal, and professional--this is the workshop for you!

Session C

Workshop 9: Speaking Across the Curriculum

Rebecca Litke, CSU Northridge

Many faculty have included oral communication skills among their program learning objectives, but discover that they have little training in designing assignments or assessing students' performance on these assignments. Participants in this workshop will learn how to create discipline appropriate oral communication assignments for their students, provide formative and evaluative feedback to students, and assess students' progress. Workshop participants will learn how to:

• Teach a variety of communication skills in diverse contexts.
• Create meaningful oral communication assignments.
• Provide guidance to students in assignment preparation and presentation.
• Develop oral communication rubrics to grade and provide feedback to students.
• Address special situations including speaker anxiety and group conflicts.
• Assess student learning.

This workshop is recommended for faculty without formal training in the communication discipline. Come prepared to participate and learn new ways to help students develop important oral communication skills! Participants are encouraged to bring copies of course syllabi and relevant program or course learning objectives to the workshop.

Workshop 10: Dealing with Disruptive and Inappropriate Behavior

Vicki Casella, San Francisco State University and Ethelynda Harding, CSU Fresno

Staff at San Francisco State University are developing a web site for faculty throughout the system to explore issues related to disruptive behaviors and sexual harassment, and participants in this workshop will be among the first to explore the video clips and other materials and discuss appropriate responses to a variety of situations that they might encounter. Many of the events portrayed in these materials are based on actual cases, with details changed to protect the privacy of those involved. Facilitating the discussion will be two experienced faculty development professionals, Vicki Casella, Director of San Francisco's Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Ethelynda Harding, Director of Fresno's Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. Participants will discuss a variety of alternative reactions to inappropriate behaviors, their possible consequences, and their underlying rationale; and they will role play responses and develop a personal repertoire of effective strategies.

Workshop 11: Information, Technology, and Teaching: Two Half-Day Sessions

Teaching with Technology
Gerry Hanley, CSU Office of the Chancellor and Kathleen Wilbanks, CSU Center for Distributed Learning

The CSU has invested in the technical infrastructure to support technology-mediated learning, and a broad array of resources is available to CSU faculty. For example, the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) is a free, open resource designed primarily for faculty and students in higher education. With a continually growing collection of online learning materials, assignments, and reviews, MERLOT helps faculty enhance instruction by providing free access to online materials that can be integrated into faculty-designed courses. In this workshop, leaders will focus on how to integrate online learning materials from MERLOT, MERLOT-TWO, and other sources into courses to maximize student engagement and learning.

Creating Information Age Assignments
Kathleen Margaret Lant ("Peggy"), CSU Hayward

Many of us will admit sheepishly to having assigned paper topics like this: "Write a twelve page paper on X." If we have not made such assignments ourselves, we probably remember receiving such assignments when we were students. All too often this bare-bones assignment produces turgid and sadly boring works that must have been as difficult for our students to write as they are for us to read, and such assignments are too often interpreted as invitations to plagiarize. In addition, these assignments may focus students on content relevant to the course, but they do not necessarily promote other types of learning, such as the development of information competence [ http://www.calstate.edu/LS/infocomp.shtml] and presentation skills using the range of available technologies.

Assignments can be reshaped by taking into account the wealth of information resources now available online, the current move to contextualize assignments (with such approaches as service learning), the principles of information literacy, the array of presentation tools, and the structures of writing and information in our respective fields.

Participants in this interactive workshop will consider how to create assignments that:

• Challenge students to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and generate ideas.
• Result in products that we look forward to reviewing.
• Help students develop information literacy.
• Offer students opportunities to present their findings and opinions in a variety of media formats. Discourage plagiarism.
• Communicate to students the background and history of academic writing in their disciplines.

Workshop 12: Case Studies

Vicki Golich, CSU San Marcos

Faculty in many disciplines are experimenting with using cases to help students master challenging material and develop problem-solving skills. A good case brings elements of the real world to the classroom so students experience the complexities, ambiguities, and uncertainties confronted by the original participants in the case. As students work through cases, they sharpen their analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills while engaging disciplinary content in a very powerful way. But how do we use cases in our classes? How much time does a case require? How do we teach our students to analyze a case, derive a solution, and present that solution? How do we build productive assignments around these cases? Where do we find good cases appropriate to our courses? This session will explore these critical issues and provide a wealth of resources, print and electronic, to facilitate the development and use of cases in any course. Please bring the syllabus for a course in which you might use case studies.