Center for Teaching Enhancement

Assessing Students' Writing Skills
Facilitators: Ms. Charla Bauer
Dr. Elisabeth Metzger and Dr. Teresa Flateby

Monday, September 18, 2:00 - 4:30 p.m. Location: SVC 2080

All too many college and university students appear content to scratch the surface of assigned course readings and to memorize minimally that which might appear on examinations. Consequently, one significant instructional challenge faculty face is to develop strategies that stimulate students to delve more deeply into course material. This interactive session will explore ways faculty can teach students to better understand and appreciate the important differences between surface and deep learning. Participants will also explore ways to design in-class activities and out-of-class assignments that promote in-depth exploration and self-reflection.

Thursday, October 5, 2:00 - 4:30 p.m. Location: SVC 1080

Throughout higher education, faculty are being asked to identify the core educational objectives of their programs or degrees and being asked to demonstrate instructional effectiveness by assessing student learning outcomes. This session, therefore, will explore practical and time-efficient strategies that can be used to address these two important and interrelated instructional challenges.

How can we help students learn to think clearly? Based upon Richard Paul's work, we will examine how a single set of questions derived from recognized components and standards of reasoning, can help students in all disciplines improve their abilities to think about anything. This interactive session will introduce Paul's model, offer practice in interpreting a brief reading, and provide suggestions for integrating this approach into your courses.

Are you searching for ways to motivate your students to learn a deeper level of problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making while making a difference in the community? Community Based Learning, a growing movement among college instructors, is a teaching approach that enriches classroom learning by allowing students the opportunity to experience community service as part of their academic coursework. Not only do students experience service to the community but they also participate academically, building in reflective time throughout their community experience, applying classroom concepts by researching, writing, and evaluating their community learning as part of their coursework. This session will introduce Community Based Learning and offer basic information on how to get started.

Though considerable empirical research and scholarly writing on excellence in undergraduate teaching can inform and guide classroom practice, surprising little has been published on effective strategies for designing and teaching graduate level courses. This interactive session will provide participants an opportunity to discuss underlying assumptions and instructional approaches associated with excellence in graduate level teaching.

This workshop will address common faculty concerns about working successfully with students with disabilities. Among the topics to be explored include: (1) Why provide accommodations? (2) How does the university respond to requests for accommodations? and (3) To whom should faculty direct their questions and concerns? And last, but certainly not least, are good teaching practices for students with disabilities different from good teaching practices for students without disabilities?

Socratic questioning is a time-honored approach ot teaching for critical thinking. This workshop will briefly present a set of universal components and intellectual standards of reasoning that can be used to prepare appropriate questions for Socratic discussions. Directed practice in Socratic questioning and suggestions on how to avoid class discussion pitfalls will follow. For maximum benefit, participants should also attend Dr. Reed's "Nine Questions to Improve Student Thinking About Anything" workshop in which Paul's thinking mode is explored in greater depth.

An increasing number of faculty recognize the need to encourage and support collaboration among students. Many report, however, that their efforts in this pursuit are continually constrained by the tyranny of course content. This session, therefore, will explore ways to (1) create the type of classroom environment that is conducive to positive forms of student collaboration, (2) design course-specific activities and assignments that promote effective collaboration, (3) teach collaborative skills in a time-efficient fashion, and (4) evaluate collaborative work.