CTL's Weblogs

Pedagogy vs. Andragogy

"Andragogy is the process of engaging learners in the structure of the learning experience. The term was originally used by Alexander Kapp (a German educator) in 1833, was developed into a theory of adult education by the American educator, Malcolm Knowles , (April 24, 1913 -- November 27, 1997)." -- wikipedia

Moving From Pedagogy to Andragogy

Hiemstra and Sisco make a great case here for learner-centered education. The goal of "raising up" students who know how to learn, rather that the creating students who are dependent on the instructor for learning is not a new one; and is most often the way instructors of adult learners view their raison d'etre. The article it offers us a reminder of those teaching goals and positive encouragement to "stay the course."

Posted by Yolanda at 04:19 PM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: Classroom Practices

Knowing Your Data is COOL

Inside Higher Ed :: Right Under Her Nose?

Click the link for a piece in yesterday's Inside Higher Ed on Margaret Spellings's complaints regarding information on higher education, and how her own department already answers the "lack" she decries. For me it illustrates a number of things: how cries for assessment indicators are often made by people who've never looked for the plentiful data available; how useful is the ENORMOUS amount of higher ed data collected and publicly reported by the U.S. Department of Education; and how all of us probably have data in our own back pockets (or on our Web sites) that could improve our practice...and our minds.

Great commentary following the piece as well.

Posted by Lynda at 05:52 PM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: Research

A Need for Discipline Meeting Facilitators

Even though the proposal submission deadline has passed, we are still accepting discipline meeting facilitators and agendas. We know how much better these meetings are with faculty willing to assist in running them and creating an agenda. If you would like to volunteer to make your discipline meeting run well please let us know by submitting your name and an agenda outline at the following Web site: http://www.ctl.mnscu.edu/events/cfp/cfpRSP.php

Posted by Zala at 10:48 AM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: CTL Events

EdGamesandSim

Interested in the rapidly growing field of educational games and simulations? Want to talk with others in our state system about how they are using them? Check out the "EdGamesandSim" listserv hosted by the Office of the Chancellor.

To sample recent messages, just go to Messages

To subscribe, just go to the list of public listservs at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities", scroll down the list, and click on edgamesandsim.

Posted by Lynda at 05:32 PM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: Instructional Technology

Great Session Proposals for RSP/Iteach 2007

The Realizing Student Potential/ITeach Conference call for proposals was a success! As I type we have received over 100 session proposals. The planning committee is reading through the proposals to see which will make it to the program. It is exciting to see the quality of session proposals and the enthusiam in which they were written. Look for a program to be ready in early January.

Posted by Zala at 01:42 PM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: CTL Events

New SoTL Journal

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is an open, peer-reviewed, international electronic journal published twice a year by the Center for Excellence in Teaching at Georgia Southern University to be an international vehicle for articles, essays, and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and its applications in higher/tertiary education today. All submissions undergo a double-blind peer-review process.

Posted by Lynda at 09:45 AM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: Teaching and Learning

Internships in MnSCU

Got a question today on internships. Thought I'd share the resources:

Student internships are encouraged in many programs and required in many, too. They are sometimes arranged by an internship coordinator or office on campus. Probably most often students find their own opportunities. Our universities all have some institution-wide Web site on internships, but so do many of their schools or colleges, and so do our two-year colleges.

Metropolitan State: "Internship Links": http://www.metrostate.edu/ccbl/links.html

St. Cloud State InternPost: http://www.stcloudstate.edu/joblistings/internpost/

MSU, Mankato's Career Development Center Internship page: http://www.mnsu.edu/cdc/students/internships/

MSU Moorhead's Career Services Internship page: http://www.mnstate.edu/career/internships/

Bemidji State's Career Services Internship page: http://www.bemidjistate.edu/career/intern.html

(Winona's and Southwest's require login.)

Internships can also be posted in DOER's job postings, where students can choose "Intern/Student Worker" as a job type: https://statejobs.doer.state.mn.us/JobPosting

DOER also has a form/process that state agencies must use when hiring interns. (We've used it in CTL.)

www.doer.state.mn.us/adsv-sm4/sm4-frms/sm4-pdf/pe546.pdf

Posted by Lynda at 04:05 PM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: Student Learning

CCRC AND PARTNERS AWARDED FEDERAL GRANT OF NEARLY $10 MILLION FOR NEW POSTSECONDARY RESEARCH CENTER

As the national dialogue focuses on the importance of reducing barriers to postsecondary education and increasing college completion rates, particularly for low-income and low-skilled students, the Community College Research Center and its partners have received a major grant from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education to establish a new postsecondary research center. CCRC, along with MDRC, the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and professors at Harvard University, and Princeton University, will receive a five-year grant of $9,813,619 to study the effects of programs designed to help students make the transition to college and master basic skills needed to advance to a degree. This new National Research and Development Center on Postsecondary Education will be the nation's premier research center on higher education that is entirely federally funded.

"We are thrilled about this exciting new phase for CCRC and its partners, and gratified that it will allow us to continue to build on the work we have done so far. It is particularly noteworthy that the U.S. Department of Education has established a national research center on higher education with a very strong focus on community colleges. In the past, the large majority of research on higher education has focused on four-year institutions," said Dr. Thomas Bailey, Director of CCRC, who will also serve as Director of the National Research Center.

Dr. Thomas Brock, MDRC Director of Young Adults and Postsecondary Education, said that the grant would allow researchers to focus on this critical area in which too little rigorous research currently exists. "There is a gap in what we know and don't know about the policies and programs that postsecondary institutions are implementing to improve student access and success in higher education," said Dr. Brock. "This grant will give the Center the opportunity to do the research that will help us say with more certainty what works and what doesn't."

CCRC and its partners will use the grant to evaluate the effectiveness of two programs: (1) those that enroll high school students in college courses (dual enrollment programs); and (2) those that provide remediation groups or learning communities for low-skill students. Both evaluations will last over four years. The Center will also evaluate financial aid policies and state incentives or sanctions to promote low-income, low-skilled students. Plans for other projects will be developed in close collaboration with the staff of the Institute for Education Sciences. "Given the millions of students who currently qualify as low-skill or low-income, the implications for these studies have far-reaching social and political impacts," said Dr. Bailey.

--READ MORE ABOUT THE CENTER AT: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=428

Posted by at 02:54 PM | Permanent link to this entry.

Assessing What Online Students Have Learned

As more and more instructors move their courses into the online environment, one consistent question that arises is, “How do I know what the students have learned?” The answer is not simple, but it can be effectively addressed with some common sense and a little bit of creativity.

Elizabeth Reed Osika, PhD has authored an article, "Assessing Student Learning Online: It’s More Than Multiple Choice", and responds to the following questions:
How do I know what the students have learned?
How can you actively engage students in the assessment process?
How do you know it’s the student’s work?

This article first appeared in Online Classroom, a monthly newsletter that provides practical advice and examples of proven, research-based pedagogical techniques to help instructors and course developers create and teach outstanding online courses.

Read more at: http://www.magnapubs.com/products/0606ocff.html?s=jrj&p=MFCFEZ

Posted by at 02:40 PM | Permanent link to this entry.

A Culture of Indifference?

What's a professor to do if the vast majority of her students aren't
paying attention or doing the work? Who's at fault here? Students? The
teacher? A culture of indifference to learning that goes deeper than
any particular classroom? This week's podcast is a candid analysis by
Paulette Kurzer, a professor of political science at the University of
Arizona and teacher of over 20 years. Many of you were shocked by her
in "Declining by Degrees." Here's your chance to hear more of her side
of the story.
Listen to the discussion at: http://www.pbs.org/merrow/podcast/

Posted by at 04:17 PM | Permanent link to this entry.

7 Things You Should Know About Google Jockeying

From EDUCAUSE: "What is the peculiar-sounding practice of "Google jockeying"? During a presentation or class, a designated person searches the Web and displays terms, ideas, Web sites, or resources related to the topic at hand--adding information and relevance to the presentation."

Find out more about this practice and how it can be used to support teaching and learning at http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7014

Posted by at 12:48 PM | Permanent link to this entry.

Educating the Net Generation

"The Net Generation has grown up with information technology. The aptitudes, attitudes, expectations, and learning styles of Net Gen students reflect the environment in which they were raised—one that is decidedly different from that which existed when faculty and administrators were growing up.

This Educause eBook explores the Net Gen and the implications for institutions in areas such as teaching, service, learning space design, faculty development, and curriculum. Contributions by educators and students are included. Professional printing options are available."

This website allows you to download chapters with provocative titles such as Technology and Learning Expectations of the Net Generation, The Real Versus the Possible: Closing the Gaps in Engagement and Learning, and Faculty Development for the Net Generation, to name a few.

You can access this informative eBook at
http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen

Posted by at 09:15 AM | Permanent link to this entry.

What is a Meta-Profession?

According to Advocate Online, there are multiple roles that a college professor must fulfill.
"College teaching is a profession built on top of another profession—a meta-profession. Individuals come to the professoriate with specific—professional—knowledge and skills, including content expertise, practice/clinical skills, and research techniques. These skills constitute what may be called the base profession of college faculty. But college professors are immediately called upon to perform at professional levels in four possible roles: teaching, scholarly or creative activities (including research), service to the institution and community, and administration."

Read about A Meta Profession, its roles, and skill sets at http://www2.nea.org/he/advo-new/feature.html#fig1

Posted by at 07:45 AM | Permanent link to this entry.

Leadership at Every Level: Appreciative Inquiry in Education

Since 1980, New Horizons for Learning has served as a leading-edge resource for educational change. At the URL provided below, they provide us with comments from Rich Henry, founder and president of UnifiedField Associates, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations create their best possible futures through appreciative and strength-based approaches. He is especially interested in applying appreciative and strength-based methods for improvement of education, and is a national and international presenter and facilitator.

“Appreciative Inquiry is an approach … based on strengths rather than weaknesses, on a vision of what is possible rather than an analysis of what is not.” --David Cooperrider

What we focus on increases.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is based on the realization that improvement is more engaging, more fun, and more effective when the focus is on what is already working rather than what is broken. This AI principle is inherent in the best of human relationships, and most of us have had an experience of an appreciative moment that has changed our lives in ways both little and large.

AI offers an approach and methods that encourage breaking through to new levels of consciousness. By recognizing and amplifying successes and strengths that already exist, we create a new image of the future that is so compelling that we consciously and unconsciously move toward it; we make decisions and take actions that create it. AI allows us to move beyond those relentless problems we have been working so diligently to solve.

Read more at: http://www.newhorizons.org/trans/henry.htm#a

Posted by at 08:13 AM | Permanent link to this entry.

STEM Degrees Down from 32% to 27%

From the Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle: Daily news: 05/04/2006 -- 01
Despite an increase in college enrollment over the past decade, the proportion of students obtaining degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics has fallen, the Government Accountability Office said in a statement presented as testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives' education committee on Wednesday.

The GAO reported that 27 percent of students obtained degrees in those fields, which are known as the STEM disciplines, in the 2003-4 academic year, compared with 32 percent in 1994-95.

The testimony was presented by Cornelia M. Ashby, a GAO director for education issues, to the Committee on Education and the Workforce. A transcript of her statement, "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Trends, and the Role of Federal Programs," is available on the agency's Web site.

The report it draws on, "Higher Education: Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Programs, and Related Trends," is also available on the GAO site.

Posted by Lynda at 05:30 PM | Permanent link to this entry.
Category: Teaching and Learning