Workshop 1:
How successful-for you and for your students--are the laboratory portions of courses you teach? Are you considering new assignments, new approaches, new tools and structures but need time for planning and proven ideas that can work in the CSU? Try out a chemistry lesson in a combined
lecture-lab set-up at Cal Poly, with Professors Christina Bailey and Theresa Bolanos, and work with colleagues on adaptations to implement in your classes. This is a workshop for faculty in science and science education who are interested in making use of technology (hardware, software, course management tools) and who want to streamline and improve the educational effectiveness of lectures and the related (or supposed to be) lab.
CHRISTINA BAILEY, Professor of Chemistry at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, directs the Chemistry Studio Project and coordinates the course sequence taught in the studio classroom (image). Recent publications include "An Integrated Lecture-Laboratory Environment for General Chemistry" (Journal of Chemical Education February 2000), and, with P.S. Bailey, Organic Chemistry: A Brief Survey of Concepts and Applications (6th Edition, Prentice Hall Publishers, 2000). Tina started teaching at Cal Poly in 1973. She has received numerous awards, among them Cal Poly Outstanding Professor Award (1981-82), Cal Poly Nominee for CSU Trustees' Outstanding Professor Award (1993), College of Engineering Student Council Outstanding Teacher Award (1998), and Faculty Woman of the Year (1999), by Women's Week, February 2000.
THERESA BOLANOS, assistant professor and secondary education coordinator, has recently joined the Cal Poly SLO Chemistry Department. She teaches in the studio classroom and collaborates with Tina on offering workshops for faculty and visitors. One of her current projects is to revise the general education chemistry course for the lecture-lab integrated format.
Workshop 2:
Engaging Students in Five Dimensions of Learning
Don Maas will describe, model, and involve participants in five dimensions of learning that are based on educational research and theory:
- Positive attitudes and perceptions about the college classroom and about learning.
- Acquiring and integrating knowledge: developing strategies to acquire different types of knowledge.
- Extending and refining knowledge: "deep" processing, reasoning about, and analyzing what is being learned.
- Using knowledge meaningfully: applying what is being learned to make decisions, investigate issues, and solve problems.
- Developing productive habits of mind, such as critical thinking, creativity, and reflection.
Participants in this workshop will focus on improving student learning by planning courses that effectively engage students in these five dimensions of learning. This workshop is based on a successful faculty development series at Cal Poly, SLO, and Don is recognized throughout the system for his ability to engage faculty in reflections on their teaching.
DON MAAS, Professor in the University Center for Teacher Education at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, has received numerous awards for his teaching and faculty development efforts, including Cal Poly's Distinguished Teaching Award; the Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology Award; and the Phi Delta Kappa Outstanding Educator Award. In addition to teaching at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for the past twenty-five years, Dr. Maas has taught faculty development seminars and workshops at numerous universities, including UCLA, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of Guam, and he has conducted a series of teacher effectiveness workshops throughout the world for Phi Delta Kappa. His warmth, genuine concern for students and colleagues, expertise in engaging learners, and wide range of experiences uniquely equip him to make this outstanding contribution to our TSSI program.
Workshop 3:
The Scholarship of Teaching: Investigating and Improving Learning in Our Courses and Programs
Almost all faculty are bound together by two common interests, the practice of teaching and the pursuit of knowledge. Indeed, these are the very interests that draw most of them to academic professions. We do not typically capitalize on the potential synergy between these two interests. The spirit and tenor of objective investigation applied to pursuit of knowledge in the disciplines has historically not been equally applied to the practice of teaching. That is a pity because every teacher in every course can carry out systematic inquiry into issues of teaching and learning without specialized training or a lot of extra work. To conduct such inquiry is not only fun and invigorating but also a form of scholarly endeavor that contributes both to the professional development and vita of the faculty member and to the advancement of student learning and teaching practice.
In this workshop, you will identify at least one issue or goal of relevance to your own teaching and the learning of students in your course. You will frame it as a researchable (answerable) question. You will gain an overview and extensive resources regarding research designs, methods, and measures. You will also read a few short but exemplary articles representing the scholarship of teaching and learning and discuss why they are exemplary. Applying workshop content as well as your own creativity and prior experience, you will design a practical study to investigate the research question you framed. In the final session of the workshop, you will present your project to peers and discuss it with them.
SAMUEL THOMPSON is Assistant to the Dean of the Faculties at Indiana University Bloomington. Originally educated as a physicist, his interest in improving undergraduate teaching and learning dates from the early 1970's while associate professor of mathematical sciences at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He initiated several educational research projects there in an era when scholarship of teaching was as yet unnamed. Later he headed the mathematics and science program for the University of Maryland in Europe and worked with hundreds of faculty in both Europe and Asia to improve mathematics and science learning in their courses. Following that, he directed faculty development in all disciplines for Maryland's Asian Division. Concepts and content of the
SOTL initiative that he presently directs at Indiana University are widely disseminated nationally as models for research universities.
CAROL HOLDER has been directing the CSU Institute for Teaching and Learning since January 1999, organizing programs like this summer institute and starting Exchanges, an online journal of teaching and learning in the CSU. Her term as director ends July 1, 2001. Carol is a Professor of English at Cal Poly Pomona, where she has coordinated writing programs and taught courses in literature, linguistics, and composition since 1969. She is best known throughout the CSU for her work with faculty in Writing in the Disciplines projects. She has made numerous presentations on assigning and evaluating writing in different disciplines and has consulted on more than 50 colleges and universities on a variety of instructional and professional development topics. From 1990 to 1998 she served as Founding Director of the Cal Poly Pomona Faculty Center for Professional Development. During that time she worked closely with her counterparts on other CSU campuses, forming with them the CSU Faculty Development Council. She has been assisting colleagues in the design and conduct of classroom research and scholarship of teaching projects since the early 1980s.
Workshop 4:
Teacher-Scholar Seminar: Issues and Innovations in Teaching and Learning
Workshop 4 is unusual. Instead of providing faculty with an opportunity to try a particular strategy or approach and develop applications for their own work, this session asks faculty to articulate challenges and successes in their own teaching and to work with colleagues to discover or develop solutions to problems that one or many face. The sessions will be informal but productive, structured but not scripted. This is a colloquium or seminar more than a workshop. Don't select this one unless you are willing to share what works and work on what doesn't in your own classes. This session is based on the Great Teaching Seminar.
MIKE MCHARGUE has an unusual title: Provacateur of Faculty Development, at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. Mike has been a leader in faculty development in California and the nation. In addition to building an excellent center on his own campus, Mike has helped other center directors with designing and implementing successful programs, among them variations on the "Great Teaching Seminar." Mike will be joined in leading this seminar by a group of CSU faculty who will serve as facilitators of break-out and other sessions in the seminar.
Session B: One-Day Workshops -- Wednesday, June 27, 2001
9:00 to 4:00 with lunch and refreshment breaks
Workshop 5:
Mathematics in Other Disciplines: Developing Quantitative Reasoning
in Courses Outside the Math Department
Students need to apply and enhance their math and quantitative skills to succeed in many courses outside the math department— e.g.,
in science courses, social sciences, and pre-professional programs—but
often seem not up to the task. Don Pierce will share workable solutions
to this problem, strategies for faculty outside of mathematics who want
their students to use and sharpen their quantitative reasoning skills.
DONALD PIERCE is professor and director of the Institute for
Mathematical Sciences and Applications at CSU Monterey Bay. He is author
of Mathematics for Life: A Foundation Course for Quantitative Literacy
and has written and presented numerous workshops on quantitative literacy,
connecting math with other disciplines, math anxiety, and combining
cooperative/active learning and technology in mathematics. Other publications
(e.g., Range Decompositions and Generalized Square Roots of Positive
Semi-definite Matrices) would be of interest to our most math-literate
faculty.
Workshop 6:
Engaging Students in the Humanities Classroom
Two CSU Outstanding Professors (Michael Flachmann, English,
and Jackie Kegley, Philosophy) will model and describe an array of teaching
strategies to engage students in the humanities classroom. Put aside those
lecture notes and put on your seatbelts because you're going to have fun
discussing political cartoons, interviewing Hamlet and Ophelia, participating
in psychodrama, and becoming a line of iambic pentameter. You will also
engage in some creative critical thinking, based on current and historical
events, and role play solutions to ethical dilemmas.
MICHAEL FLACHMANN,
Professor of English and Director of University Honors Programs at California
State University, Bakersfield, was a CSU Outstanding Professor in 1993,
a Carnegie Foundation U.S. Professor of the Year in 1999, and a Wang
Family Excellence Award winner in 1999/2000. An internationally-recognized
teacher, scholar, and Shakespearean dramaturg he has published eight
books and over fifty articles in such journals as Shakespeare Quarterly
and Studies in English Literature. He has worked for many years in professional
theatre, serving as dramaturg for over eighty Shakespearean productions,
including shows at the Oregon and Utah Shakespearean Festivals. Flachmann's
unique blend of literary expertise and professional theatre knowledge
has made him a popular, creative teacher and frequent participant in
high school and college workshops throughout the nation. Michael also
is a fourth degree black belt in Judo and has taught Judo at CSUB for
almost three decades, so expect to be engaged in active learning!
JACKIE KEGLEY,
Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Bakersfield,
was a CSU Outstanding Professor in 1989 and a Wang Family Excellence
Award winner in 2000-2001, and CSUB has honored her with Outstanding
Professor and Community Service awards. Active in campus and system-wide
governance, she currently serves as the Chair of the CSU Academic Senate.
Her field of specialization is ethical considerations concerning technology
and genetics. She has lectured on related topics throughout the world
and currently is involved in an international project for Ethics in
Medical Education. A prolific writer, Jackie has published in many venues,
and she has received a variety of grants, including a million-dollar,
three-year grant to infuse ethics, political science, and economics
into the nursing curriculum. She has experience with a wide range of
teaching approaches, including ITV and Web-enhanced courses and 15 years
experience team-teaching a course on "Self, Brain and Person" with a
colleague in psychology. Expect to be challenged by Jackie’s engaging,
supportive teaching style.
Workshop 7:
Publishing the Scholarship of Teaching
Ever since the Carnegie Foundation's publication of Scholarship
Reconsidered (Boyer, 1990), faculty, administrators, and faculty development
professionals have worked to understand and to encourage investigations
of teaching and learning in CSU classes and programs. An important element
of the scholarship of teaching involves "going public" with the results,
sharing the scholarship with professional colleagues through presentation
or publication. In this workshop Laurie Richlin will help participants
learn how to prepare their scholarship of teaching projects and submit
them for presentation or publication. Participants will learn about investigating
the relevant literature, identifying the appropriate venue for presentation
and publication, and developing and revising their manuscript. They will
learn how to tailor work for different presentation and publication audiences,
and they will learn about publication opportunities in a variety of media,
including the CSU e-journal, Exchanges. Participants will review
sample abstracts and manuscripts and practice revising them and responding
to editorial concerns. Participants who are planning or who are engaged
in a scholarship of teaching project are invited to bring their drafts
and ideas for group discussion and feedback.
LAURIE RICHLIN
is Director of the Claremont Graduate University’s Preparing
Future Faculty Program, Director of the regional Lilly Conferences
on College and University Teaching, Executive Editor of the Journal
on Excellence in College Teaching, and President of the International
Alliance of Teacher Scholars. She received her doctorate in higher
education from the Claremont Graduate University, and her dissertation
research on alternative faculty scholarship received the national Gratzke
award from the American Association of University Administrators. She
developed and implemented the Teaching Assistant Development Program
at the University of California, Riverside; was "Educator in Residence"
at four small colleges in Kentucky and Indiana under a FIPSE grant;
and served as Director of the Office of Faculty Development at the University
of Pittsburgh before returning to California in 1998. Laurie is widely
published, including articles and book chapters on the scholarship of
teaching, faculty development, classroom assessment, and teaching portfolios.
Workshop 8:
Grading Effectively: New Ideas and Options for a Long-Standing Challenge
Grading can be accomplished in many ways and can serve many
purposes. In this session we will explore how to integrate grading into
course planning, how to use grading to encourage learning, how grading
can be tied to outcomes assessment, how to reduce the burdens of grading,
and a variety of new ideas in grading (e.g., "authentic" grading,
student portfolios, scoring rubrics, and grading collaborative/cooperative
projects and activities). Participants will consider a variety of grading
components for their own courses and draft exam questions, assignments,
and rubrics for use in their teaching. We will discuss options, practice
skills, and learn from each other in this one-day, practical workshop.
MARY ALLEN is Director of the Faculty
Teaching and Learning Center, Director of Assessment, and Professor
of Psychology at CSU Bakersfield. She holds a master’s in statistics
and Ph.D. in psychology from U.C., Berkeley, and she has published texts
on psychometrics and research methods. She has been grading and assessing
student work for nearly three decades, and she has offered well-received
assessment workshops to faculty throughout the system. Her workshop
goal is to help faculty expand their repertoires, so participants will
learn about a variety of approaches and how to use them well. Expect
to try out and reflect on new ideas in a supportive, collegial environment.
