December 3, 2016

Faculty Matter Tip #11: Encouraging Students to Engage in Each Others’ Presentations

In many courses, considerable portions of class sessions during the final weeks of the semester are devoted to student presentations. These assignments – and the preparation that goes into them – provide valuable opportunities for students to delve into topics of particular interest, to develop important public speaking skills as they plan and execute a formal presentation, and to collaborate with fellow students when they need to work as a team. Most students become fairly enthusiastic about the material they get to explore so deeply. One of the challenges for faculty, however, is to ensure that students be as engaged in (and reap benefits from) their classmates’ presentations.

A common strategy is to simply hold students accountable for the information contained in the presentations on the final exam. Below, are a few additional suggestions that are designed to prompt students to more intentionally make connections between the content of the presentations and ideas that have been of interest to them throughout the course.

BEFORE the presentations

Have each student create and share a brief summary of their upcoming presentation (one paragraph in length or so). Have students then formulate one or two questions about several other students’ topics, based on the summaries. This can be done online (using the discussion features of Canvas) or in class (as a gallery walk where each student prints out their summary and the class then circulates, reads the summaries, and writes their questions on sticky notes which are placed adjacent to the summaries). If it is feasible, presenters can address some of these questions in their actual presentations.

If time permits, facilitate opportunities for students to work in groups of three to four to rehearse their presentations with each other. Once students serve as “audiences” for each other have them probe linkages among their topics, or between topics and issues raised in the course more generally.

THE DAY OF the presentations

Allow time after each presentation for brief question and answer session to clarify any points of confusion. Encourage students to note how what they have just heard aligns with something they have discovered, as a result of the research they did for their own presentation.

Allocate a few minutes near the end of class periods for small-group discussion of the day’s presentations. Have one student in each group record the essence of the conversation. Provide prompts, as you deem useful (what was interesting/surprising; link to their own topics or to course themes; etc…)

Have students create worksheets or quizzes for other students to complete during their presentation. Students can compare and discuss answers after the presentation.

AFTER the presentations

Have students post comments about several of their classmates’ presentations (using the discussion features of Canvas). Provide prompts as you deem useful (what was interesting/surprising; link to their own topics or to course themes; etc…)

If students will be submitting a paper based on their presentation, have them include a section where they explicitly address a connection between what they have studied in depth and one or more of their classmates’ presentations.

Please add your own strategies using the comment link below.

November 21, 2016

Faculty Matter Tip #10: This one is for you – the importance of self-care

By Amy Strage, assistant vice president, Faculty Development

Our lives – as well as those of our students – are complex, and the final weeks of the semester always seem to bring a large number (and great variety) of unexpected and challenging complications and disruptions. It can be very difficult to keep our many spinning plates “strategically counterpoised”, a phrase I borrow from our colleague Cindy Baer, Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature. As research on stress and coping suggests, it is much easier to marshal the energy and patience and compassion to arrive at good solutions when we don’t already feel exhausted and tapped out.

Faculty Matter Tip #10 – This one is for you – the importance of self-care

The gist of this week’s tip is fairly simple. Most of us are familiar with the instructions on the laminated card found in airplane seat-back pockets: Put your own oxygen mask on first, and then help others around you with theirs. As we approach the Thanksgiving Break and then the final push of the semester, we encourage you to tend to your own needs – for sleep, for exercise, for nutritious food, for calm, for uplifting and affirming human contact, for spiritual renewal, for opportunities to connect with what matters most to you, for time to catch your breath.

SJSU has an institutional membership to the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. This entitles all faculty to free access to a number of resources focused on self-care and work-life balance. Our own Center for Faculty Development also offers sessions on these and related topics. Coming up later this month: Self-care and time-management strategies for the end of the semester and beyond, Monday, Nov. 28, from noon to 1 p.m., and Tuesday, Nov. 29, from 3 to 4 p.m., in IRC 210.

Note: Below, please find pasted a section of an earlier Faculty Matter post, to remind you of the many resources our students can draw upon as they gear up for the next few weeks:

Peer Connections provides one on one appointments for peer mentoring and tutoring. They also offer several workshops a month on academic success skills. The Writing Center offers one on one tutoring for writing, online resources, and workshops. The Communications Center has drop-in and one on one appointments for oral and written communication. There are also numerous tutoring centers in the departments and colleges listed on the Tutoring Hub.

Educational Counseling provides one on one appointments, workshops, and online resources for academic success. The library has technology workshops. In addition, the library offers resources to support students in research, including details online to help the student define the type of resources and help they need and how to connect with a librarian. The library also has laptop and I-pad rentals, meeting rooms that can be reserved for teamwork or collaboration, and online resources on referencing and literature reviews and tutorials on plagiarism. The Spartan Success Portal has a range of online, academic success modules.

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October 5, 2016

Faculty Matter Tip #7: Resources to Support Students

This is the time in the semester where you become aware of students who are struggling in your course. Reaching out to students in the middle of the semester is a proven effective way to re-engage them in the class, increase learning of the content, and ultimately increase their academic success. With this Faculty Matter Tip, we lay out several different ways to reach out and support those students. In addition to the material below, we would like to cordially invite you to a coffee break on Tuesday to talk about student success services on campus and strategies to connect students to those resources. The session will be Tuesday, Oct. 11, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in IRC 210. Please RSVP.

Progress Reports:

Last Thursday, Student Academic Success sent out requests to some faculty for progress reports on some students. If you have these students in your class, you would have received an email with the subject header “Fall 2016 Progress Reports”. Please take the time to read and respond to that email.

This is a request for your help in identifying students in your class who may be in jeopardy academically and might benefit from extra support. We realize that your time is valuable and your prompt participation in this request allows us to provide appropriate and effective academic support for the students who might be at academic risk.

In addition, you have the ability to proactively alert us to any students who are struggling in your class. Through Spartan Connect, you can bring these students to the attention of our staff advisors who will reach out to the student. Directions on how to obtain an account and issue an alert on students are available online.

Connecting Students to University Support:

Below are some places on campuses where students can get tutoring or attend academic success skill workshops. You can highlight these resources to all students by mentioning them at the start of class, posting them on Canvas, or emailing them to the class. You can also pass this information on to particular students who you see struggling. Send them an email or Canvas message with the resources and a note encouraging them to both take advantage of these resources and to come and see you in office hours.

While we know this is an incredibly busy time of the semester, the time you spend now reaching out to students and connecting them with support is an investment that will pay off in their improved academic success. You can read all previous Faculty Matter Tips under the “Faculty Matter” category on the blog as well as share your own thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

September 17, 2016

September 2016 Newsletter: High-Impact Practices Engage Students

Photo courtesy of Resa Kelly
Chemistry Professor Resa Kelly, second from the left, presented research on using visual animations in teaching chemistry this summer. Here she is pictured with colleagues at a meeting in Brazil.

A group of San Jose State University professors who work in the College of Science as part of the Science Education Program is offering their support to faculty who are interested in incorporating high-impact practices into their curriculum to support student success. Ellen Metzger, the director of the Science Ed Program and a professor of geology, attended a summer workshop on high-impact practices at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“It helped me understand the practices better and I am really grateful to be part of a team that is developing sustainable and interdisciplinary tools,” she said.

The Science Education Program also includes Resa Kelly, a chemistry professor, Cassandra Paul, a physics and astronomy professor, and Elly Walsh, a meteorology and climate science professor. The four are versed in curricular design, transformation and evaluation along with using technology to design and study learning. As part of SJSU’s Four Pillars of Student Success, high-impact practices are recommended to increase student engagement and help to clear bottlenecks in key courses.

Kelly began her teaching career at the high school level and is particularly interested in helping students make the transition from high school to college-level chemistry. Chemistry is a prerequisite for some majors that often causes a bottleneck due to a higher rate of failure or withdrawals than the average across other courses.

Using a grant from the National Science Foundation, Kelly’s research is aimed at developing visualizations to boost deeper learning. She has worked with SJSU animation artists and computer science students to create short videos about the atomic level details of chemical reactions where the outcomes conflict.

“The overall goal is that we shouldn’t tell students which animation is right or wrong,” she said. “We want to connect them to the evidence and hope over time, with practice, they will be able to justify why one model is preferred over another.”

Walsh is currently involved in research on understanding and supporting student engagement in socially controversial scientific issues, such as climate change causes and impacts. Paul is a member of the Physics Education Research group. She has experience in investigating the interactions between students and instructors in interactive classrooms and helped develop the Real-time Instructor Observing Tool (RIOT).

Metzger said the Science Ed team is particularly hopeful that plans for an interdisciplinary science building will allow them more opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from other colleges.

“Research has shown project-based learning and instruction is effective,” she said. “We need to think of innovative ways to be interdisciplinary.”

She also noted that project-based learning offers an opportunity for students to feel connected to their community.

“The key to equity is engaging students of all types in their learning,” she said.

Stacy Gleixner, interim AVP for Student Academic Success, and Amy Strage, AVP for Faculty Development and director of the Center for Faculty Development, also attended the summer workshop on high-impact practices. They are developing easy to implement “Faculty Matter” tips that are sent to all faculty weekly by email and archived on the Academic Spotlight blog.

September 14, 2016

Faculty Matter Tip # 6: Help Students Become Better Self-Regulated Learners

A professor works with a student in class.

Last week’s tip described some fairly simple things you can do to help students (and you) monitor what they were learning and where they were having difficulties. This week’s tip focuses on ways to help students recognize how they learn best so that they can feel (and truly be) more in control of their academic success. As many researchers have demonstrated:

In addition to getting better grades and learning more, students who know what they need to do to do well at their academic tasks are more willing to try hard and persevere when the material is challenging, and to really invest themselves in their academic environment
Students who are not confident that they know what they need to do to ensure their success are less likely to feel comfortable engaging fully in their course. Instead they are more likely to “phone it in”, to pull back, and as a result, sabotage their own learning. Furthermore, their negative affect and attitude can undermine your efforts to create a vibrant learning environment
Reflecting on their own experience and comparing notes with classmates can lead to very powerful – and empowering – insights for students
And finally, thinking about your students’ insights can provide you with information to share with future students, as you provide guidance to them about ways to get the most from your courses

Faculty Matter Teaching Tip #6

Helping students to become better self-regulated learners. By now you and your students have likely settled into the rhythm of the semester. It’s a perfect time to introduce an activity to help students monitor how they learn best.

Ask them to complete the following inventory (or something similar), sharing their answers with you or with each other in small groups, and then making a specific plan for how they will study for your class for the next three weeks (or up through a particular assignment or exam). As a follow-up, have them revisit their plan, and reflect (in writing, or in conversation with you or with classmates) about what they have discovered about how they might best manage their own learning. (Note, the learning inventory below is written with respect to reading but you can adapt this to be more relevant to your class such as with a focus on solving problems or writing.)

Think about the studying you do for this class. Can you find a pattern? Begin by thinking about occasions where things go well.

Begin by thinking about occasions where things go well?
- When are you best at truly understanding what you read and remembering what you study: First thing in the morning? In the afternoon? In the evening? Late at night? After a nap or a good night’s sleep? After a meal? After a workout or exercise? Other? How long can you focus on what you are studying before you feel tired, distracted, bored or like you have reached your limit of productivity?
- Where are you best at truly understanding what you read and remembering what you study: At home or in your room? At a coffee shop? In the library? In silence? With background noise or music? Alone? With one study partner? With a group of people? Sitting in a comfortable seat? Lying down? At a table? Other?
- How are you best at truly understanding what you read and remembering what you study: Underlining or highlighting passages while you read? Taking notes while you read? Answering study guide questions while you read? Creating pictures, maps, charts or other kinds of “graphic organizers”? Reading out loud? Other? How do you make use of your class notes? What do you do when you encounter a reading passage that is hard to understand or a place where your notes are unclear or incomplete?
Now think about a time or two where you didn’t do as well as you usually do at understanding or remembering material you were trying to learn. Look back at your answers to the questions above, and think about how your approach in those positive situations was different from your approach when things didn’t go as well.
Commitment to self: Now that you have identified a “pattern for success”, list one to three specific changes you will make to the way you study, implement those changes, and check back in a few weeks to see how your efforts have made a difference in how much you are enjoying and learning in your classes.

Additional information and resources about Self-Regulated Learning:

Fact-Sheet about Self-Regulated Learning (https://teal.ed.gov/tealguide/selfregulated)

The Secret of Self-Regulated Learning (http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/secret-self-regulated-learning/)

Please add your own strategies using the comment link below.