Tidbit – TTT

As we near the half-way mark, consider getting mid-semester feedback from your students. Mid-semester evaluations:

1. provide a chance to correct student misconceptions or make changes to the course schedule, activities, etc. if necessary.
2. give students an opportunity to reflect on their own expectations, efforts, and learning.
3. let students know you care about their input.

Here are some sample mid-semester evaluations you can use or adapt for your course:

• This check-off format from Seattle University makes it easy for your students to provide specific feedback, as well as some open-ended questions.

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As Process Advisor for Academic Integrity, I often see cases involving misuse of source material. Instances include inadequate paraphrasing, quotations missing references, and direct use of entire passages without attribution. Speaking with students, it becomes clear that many of them have a poor understanding of what constitutes plagiarism, despite the integrity statements they see in their syllabi. This short article from Faculty Focus highlights the value of plagiarism education. It

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Denison students will spend their spring semester diving into important topics in their classes and figuring out how to answer one of two questions:

“What will you be doing this summer?” or 
“What are your plans after graduation?”

For most students, the answers are directly related to internships and jobs – the work experience they need to launch from their Denison education. 

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What will students remember from your class in 20 Years? In this article, James Lang tackles this thorny question that has no set answer. However, as we are mapping out our semester, consider how your course might:

• inspire a passion for the subject
• provide a sense of disciplinary literacy
• give an understanding of how the discipline matters in other realms
• develop an eye for the bigger picture

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Whether you’re a fan of Apple’s hit series or not, the fictional character Ted Lasso has some words of wisdom for those teaching for the first semester or thirtieth. Check out this short piece from The Teaching Professor, What Ted Lasso taught me about my first semester of teaching.

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Whether you’re a fan of Apple’s hit series or not, the fictional character Ted Lasso has some words of wisdom for those teaching for the first semester or thirtieth. Check out this short piece from The Teaching Professor, What Ted Lasso taught me about my first semester of teaching.

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As due dates for those scaffolded writing projects come due, many of us are holding writing conferences with our students. This article by Paul Hanstedt in 
The Teaching Professor provides his fresh approach to this process that get his student actively engaged in the conference. He requires students to take out a notebook and make three lists:

1. everything you already know you’re going to change
2. everything you’re thinking about changing but aren’t sure about;
3. any questions you have for him

He found that thee conferences were less work, students paid greater attention, and the papers got better. 

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On Wednesday, November 10 at 12:00 noon, the GLCA’s Consortium for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will present a second webinar in the series by Vicki L. Baker, Professor of Economics and Management at Albion College, entitled, So You’re Mid-Career, Now What?: Next Steps of Your Faculty Journey.  This installment focuses on “SWOT Analysis/Goal Setting.”

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On Wednesday, November 10 at 12:00 noon, the GLCA’s Consortium for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will present a second webinar in the series by Vicki L. Baker, Professor of Economics and Management at Albion College, entitled, So You’re Mid-Career, Now What?: Next Steps of Your Faculty Journey.  This installment focuses on “SWOT Analysis/Goal Setting.”

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At a conference in 2011, I saw a speaker use a think-pair-share exercise with a room of more than 200 strangers. Within two minutes, he could barely quiet the room and the following conversation was rich and meaningful. I have used this strategy heavily in my classroom ever since.

Even though I am a firm believer in this discussion method, I am not always the best practitioner.

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