CATAL - Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning

How many academics does it take to change a light bulb?

2012-01-27T09:30:00.002-05:00

How many academics does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Change!? I also heard someone say that they believe it is easier to change the course of history than to change a history course.

No one likes change. It never seems to be convenient to go through change. If one looks at education, however, many things are done the same as they may have been a hundred years ago (think lecture) even when we have had so many advances in technology. When in graduate school, I was told that the reason there was a requirement for all graduate students to take a non-credit, one-semester foreign language course was because “that is the way we have always done that.” Too often, I fear, this is the way academia works.

Take a look at the article entitled What You (Really) Need to Know written by Lawrence H. Summers in the January 20, 2012 Education section of The New York Times. Summers is the former president of Harvard University and a former Secretary of the Treasury. In the article, Summers wonders how university education might change in light of today’s world. He states:

Nonetheless, it is interesting to speculate: Suppose the educational system is drastically altered to reflect the structure of society and what we now understand about how people learn. How will what universities teach be different? Here are some guesses and hopes.

He outlines six possible transformations in the way people learn in the university.

Focus will be more on how to process and use information and less about imparting it.
Because of the knowledge explosion, tasks will be conducted with more collaboration.
New technologies will significantly change the way knowledge is transmitted.
Technology and collaborative experiences will be used to promote dynamic or active learning.
It will be essential that the educational experience become more cosmopolitan; that students have international experiences and see examples from around the world.
Much more emphasis will be placed on the analysis of data.

I believe that we in COPHS are doing some of these things now. What are your thoughts on Summers’ suggestions? How could we incorporate his ideas to increase our commitment to helping our students in their careers and their ability to contribute to society?

Teaching Tip for December 5, 2011

2011-12-05T10:57:00.001-05:00

As we begin to reflect at the end of a semester and think about what we will do differently when we are again with students, it may be helpful to read these two quotes from the book The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer.

Reduce teaching to intellect and it becomes a cold abstraction; reduce it to emotions and it becomes narcissistic; reduce it to the spiritual and it loses its anchor to the world. Intellect, emotion, and spirit depend on each other for wholeness. They are interwoven in the human self and in education at its best. – p. 4

[Here is] a simple premise: good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. – p. 10

Teaching Tip for November 21, 2011

2011-11-21T09:31:00.002-05:00

Creating a climate for learning is very important. This includes not only the physical setting but also the psychosocial and cultural climate. Knowles described several characteristics of climate that he believed were conducive to learning:

A climate of the physical environment
A climate of mutual respect
A climate of collaboration
A climate of mutual trust
A climate of supportiveness
A climate of openness and authenticity
A climate of pleasure
A climate of humanness

These ideas are summed up in the following quote:

Learning is a very human activity. The more people feel they are being treated as human beings – that their human needs are being taken into account – the more they are likely to learn and learn to learn. – Knowles MS. The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species. 4th ed. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Co. 1990:129.

Teaching Tip for November 7, 2011

2011-11-10T09:12:00.004-05:00

Two times a month, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning will provide a Teaching Tip.

We begin with the classic work of Chickering and Gamson from their publication entitled The Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. This work came from a review of 50 years of research on the way teachers teach and students learn. Although published in 1987, these principles have been widely accepted and are still very much valid today. Much research has been conducted to support the principles.

Good practice in education:

encourages contact between students and faculty,
develops reciprocity and cooperation among students,
encourages active learning,
gives prompt feedback,
emphasizes time on task,
communicates high expectations, and
respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

The citation for the original article is: Chickering AW, Gamson ZF. Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. AAHE Bulletin. 1987; 39(7): 3-7.

Why? Why? Why? Why?

2011-02-15T13:37:00.003-05:00

Daniel Pink has written several books about how work is changing. His latest, entitled Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, is one I highly recommend to everyone. The book is based on over 40 years of scientific research on human motivation. His conclusion is that there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business (and education) does.

In Pink’s article in the January 29, 2011 issue of the British newspaper, The Telegraph, he begins by describing his first day of his first class in journalism. He said that the instructor told the class that the job of the journalist was to explain to readers who, what, where, when, why, and how - the Five Ws and an H. He goes on to state that he thinks that the “why” is conspicuously absent from most businesses today. Based on research by Adam Grant at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, he posits that omitting the “why” may be a major mistake.

Pink describes several of the studies done by Grant. One study was conducted at a large US university call center where telephone calls were made nightly to alumni to raise scholarship funds. Grant divided the call center representatives into three groups.

For several days before making calls, the first group read brief stories from previous employees about the personal benefits of working in the job. The stories were about developing communication and sales skills that later helped them in their careers.

The second group also read stories before making calls. These stories were from people who had received scholarships from the funds raised and who described how the money had improved their lives. The aim of these stories was to remind workers of the purpose of their efforts.

The third group served as a control and read nothing before making calls. A month later, Grant measured the performance of the three groups.

The first group and the control group received about the same number of weekly pledges and raised the same amount of money as they had in the weeks before the experiment. The people in the second group, however, raised more than twice as much money and obtained twice as many pledges as they had in previous weeks. This was significantly more than the workers in the other two groups.

Remember, the second group spent time considering the significance of their work and the effect on the lives of others. It seems that reminding the workers about the “why” resulted in a doubling of their performance. Grant has shown similar results in studies.

I wonder if this also is a message for us in the classroom. Shouldn’t we be helping students to understand the “why” of the course or the curriculum? Could knowing why help to motivate students and lead to better learning experiences? Would finding meaning (the why) in course and at work eventually guide students toward meaning in life?

I suspect that understanding the “why” will help students to become more competent and committed. One thing I believe we need to hear is that we as faculty have a responsibility to help students understand the “why.” It probably is even more important to do this with the current Millennial student. And we must remember that the parental “because I said so” is probably the worst “why” we could give students.

One take home message for me from this research is that reminding people why they are doing what they are doing, even in vary small ways, can lead to in a very significant effect.

What do you think about this and the potential use to us in education? What suggestions do you have as ways to help students see and understand the “why” in the classroom? I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

I Watched a Great Movie on My VCR Last Night

2011-01-07T15:39:00.003-05:00

“We don’t think a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail” says Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook and Time Magazine Person of the Year. In 2008, I heard a talk by Lee Rainie, the founder and director of the Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project. One of his comments based on a recently conducted survey was that 15-20 year olds thought that e-mail was for “old people”. I am not sure what the fact that I have 3 different e-mail accounts says about me.

From my observations, it does indeed seem that students are moving away from email as their main method of written communication. What does that mean for us as faculty? Take a look at this news report from the January 6, 2011 edition of Inside Higher Ed.

I think that one thing we can learn is that we may need to use a variety of technologies to communicate with our students. There are probably many different student preferences in a class for linking with others or receiving information. This is really no different than a class filled with students with different learning styles, is it.

How we need to communicate also probably depends on our objective. If it involves reflection, then e-mail or a wiki or a blog may best serve the need. If the goal is to rapidly get information to the entire class, maybe a Facebook page is the best way to do that.

We need to assess what we are trying to do and then select the best technology to do that. Always remember, however, to use the technology that is effective and that assists in the learning process. Don’t use technology just because you can.

I look forward to your comments.

What is the Internet doing to our brains?

2010-06-03T08:44:00.005-04:00

It has been a while since I did a post. As we enter into summer and reflect on the past year, this seems like a good time to begin our conversations again.

Here is an interesting interview from the June 2, 2010 edition of the NPR program All Things Considered. You can listen to the interview with Nicholas Carr who wrote an article in Atlantic Magazine (August 2008) entitled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He has just released a book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, that expands on the article.

I also have provided a link for a written description of the interview that includes an excerpt from the book.

Listen to the interview

Full story and excerpt

Some questions and thoughts:

I wonder if studies indicating that online reading gives lower comprehension than reading from a printed page applies equally to digital natives and to digital immigrants, i.e., those who have grown up using the Internet and digital devices versus those of us who have been forced to adapt to the technology.

If this effect really is reducing the ability to become and to be a creative thinker, what should we be doing to help prevent this?

What does this research and these ideas say to us as we move away from printed textbooks to online access of reference material for a course?

What may be the implications of this on learning?

I look forward to your comments.

Joy of Teaching

2009-05-14T09:53:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite authors is Parker Palmer. I have four of his books and am currently reading the one he most recently published. His book, The Courage to Teach, should be read (and reread) by every teacher. It is a true gift to all who have been called to teaching.

The book opens with this paragraph:

"I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illuminated by the lightning-life of the mind – then teaching is the finest work I know."

The question I would like to pose to you in this post is this: When have you experienced this kind of joy in your own teaching?

I have a number of these but I will share the most recent. It occurred this week at The Loop in Embry Hills Shopping Center. We were having a meeting of the Officers and Committee Chairs of the Cecil B. Day Campus Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. While waiting for our food and without a prompt from me to the students about how the just completed term had gone for them, a couple offered some comments.

One student told me that what we had done together was her "favorite part of the course." She told me that she saw a number of ways that what we had learned had applications to practice and to patient care. A second student told me that she understands and appreciates why we do the activities that we do in class. She said that they do, in fact, help her to learn. She said that she wanted me to know that even though some students complain about having to do things in class, she believes that the efforts are of great benefit for learning. She said that the class activities help her to see that I care about learning.

I want to hear your stories of the kinds of moments about which Parker Palmer speaks. For me, your sharing of these experiences also brings me joy. For me, hearing these stories helps me to move away from that question that I ask myself sometimes about finding new work and even finding something that I can actually do successfully. I look forward to your sharing.

Student Expectations and Grades

2009-03-31T15:14:00.003-04:00

This editorial by Bill Maxwell from the February 20 St. Petersburg Times was sent to me by Phillip Owen. Mr. Maxwell says that in his teaching career, he “came to expect students to challenge lower-than-expected grades solely on the basis of having ‘worked hard’ and having satisfied the basic requirements.” Another article in the New York Times entitled “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes” by Max Roosevelt reaches essentially the same conclusion.

We have probably all heard a student at some time come to us and say that this is the lowest grade that they have ever made. The implication to me is that it is somehow all my fault. These articles may help to explain some of these comments and beliefs that the exam was too difficult.

After reading the articles, I am not sure that I agree that many, or even most, of our students feel this sense of entitlement. If they do, then perhaps part of it is our fault for making learning competitive rather than collaborative. Maybe we cause this feeling by giving “bonus points” or extra credit work. Is it due to the long-held belief that grade inflation is rampant? Have we given students the view that a degree is simply a “product” that can be purchased and they view education as a consumer?

What have your experiences been? Are there many students who believe that it is basically about effort? How do you respond to the student who tells you that the test was too hard or was unfair?

Is this the "Entitled Generation." Based on my work with students in APhA-ASP, HealthSTAT and Habitat for Humanity, I don’t see this. I would like to hear your experiences.

Characteristics of a Good Course

2009-03-02T09:11:00.001-05:00

Every faculty member should be able to answer the following question. What are the characteristics of a “good course?” I would like for each of you to list one characteristic. The list generated should be informative to us and may lead to useful discussion.

I will start with one characteristic that I believe should be part of a good course.

A good course makes use of a range of teaching approaches that together produces learning experiences and an environment that leads students to the achievement of the desired learning objectives. The teaching/learning strategies must be explained to students so that the purpose of each strategy is clear to them.

Facebook in Teaching and Learning

2009-02-14T20:00:00.005-05:00

We recently created a Group on Facebook for the Cecil B. Day Campus Habitat for Humanity Chapter. Within one week, there were 118 members.

Facebook is generally considered to be the leading social networking site among college students. With Facebook, individuals can create profiles that include personal interests, affiliations, pictures, and basically anything else that they want to post. The profile links the user to other people who have posted similar information. For example, you can find and display all users who list the same favorite movie that you did. Since a social networking site provides a number of ways for users to interact and constantly creates connections among users, the appeal is obviously broad.

A technology like Facebook that can captivate so many students who can spend large amounts of time using it, I think, offers us an opportunity to incorporate it into teaching and learning. One of the first things that we need to do, I believe, is to try to understand the components of social networking that students find so compelling. Obviously in Facebook, there are a lot of distractions and not everything is relevant or pedagogically useful. Remember also, that we should not incorporate technology into teaching and learning efforts just because it is uber-cool. The technology needs to aid learning.

I have begun to think about ways that we may use Facebook and social networking to assist with learning and teaching. Facebook certainly emphasizes to students the importance of creating content. The student user is encouraged to formulate profiles that communicate and express who they are and that highlight their talents and experience. The reflective side of it may be the most important part.

There are many questions that come to mind about incorporating this technology into teaching and learning. For example, how is the information flow in social networking best managed. Many of us who are Facebook users find that it can become overwhelming very quickly. Much of the information seems like “noise.” In the F2F classroom, we and students generally know how to deal with that. But is it different in the online environment?

Here are a few other questions.

How do people now use Facebook in their professional lives? Do we need to help student pharmacists begin to learn how it will be able to help them to grow once they graduate?

How might social networks relate to personal learning and to formal learning?

Will the ease of surrounding oneself with only those who have similar interests potentially limit the exposure to new ideas and experiences for a student?

It seems to me that since Facebook (and other social networking) is used and accepted by students, then we need to find ways to develop innovative pedagogical uses and encourage students to become engaged participants in learning through their online connections.

I would like to hear your thoughts about the possibility of using social networking systems like Facebook in teaching situations. How would you respond to these first questions that I pose? What additional questions should we be thinking about? I look forward to a conversation about this.

It’s Culture, Not Morality

2009-02-03T14:45:00.008-05:00

In a soon to be published book entitled My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture, Susan D. Blum talks about how current students think and act about originality and ethics. She posits that two cultures exist today in the classroom, ours and theirs. Studies have shown that over 75% of students admit to having cheated and 68% say that they have cut and pasted material from the Internet without citing the source.

We all can probably think of many reasons that we could give for students using any means to get a good grade. From a post reporting on the book on the February 3 Inside Higher Ed Page, Blum suggest that the real problem of academic dishonesty comes from a lack of communication between the two cultures she describes. The Inside Higher Ed report states that she believes that most universities use a "shock and awe approach" to combating plagiarism and that it is not working. Blum believes that we should adapt a "hearts and minds strategy" to help us understand why students do what they do, why what we do does not work and why we should even care.

When the book is published, it sounds like something that we should read and could help to open a dialogue between us and our students. But until then, read the article on Inside Higher Ed, and let others know what you think. Is what we are doing unproductive? Is it appropriate? What role do we have in the promotion of academic integrity? Is this part of helping student pharmacists to become professionals? What other approaches, if any, should we take? I look forward to your thoughts.

Welcome

2009-02-03T10:16:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the blog of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences of Mercer University. This blog is designed for discussion of issues related to learning and teaching within the College. Your comments are encouraged!