TLC Newsletters 2009

Cedar Valley College

January 2009 Volume 31

Teaching Learning Center DESIGNING ASSIGNMENTS THAT WORK: It’s difficult to deal with students who are bored or confused and are turning in assignments that don’t meet our expectations. Often this is the result of a failed assignment. “A good assignment has clear purpose that is directly related to accomplishing the course objectives” as stated by Deborah Stewart, author of Effective Teaching: A Guide for Community College Instructors. She continues to explain that instructors should “explain when the assignment is due, how long it should take, and how it will be used or addressed in class. Students should also know the consequences of failing to complete the assignment.” Here are some tips for designing effective assignments:  Think about how the assignment relates to the learning objectives for the course. What are the assignments goals? What is the evaluation method?  Look for connections between the subject and the methods and then try to communicate theses connections to students. A good course feels like one cohesive unit, seamless even though it can be made up of many different pieces.  Make sure expectations are clear. Always put assumptions in writing.  Give some thought to the possible questions students may have. (e.g., what kinds of topics are acceptable for an assignment?) Students are more likely to submit work that meets our expectations if we communicate our expectations effectively.  Think about whether the course evaluation methods are balanced. If the majority of the students’ grade rests upon one assignment, what message does that send about the rest of the course?  Don’t leave everything for the end of the semester. This focuses more on the product rather than the process of learning.  Create ways to assess students’ progress without grading them.  Students are most successful with subjects that are relevant and engaging. Students prefer to have choices whenever possible. Let them decide on the topic for their paper, give them a list of choices.  Students can all complete the same assignment but would benefit from brainstorming and working together.

THE TLC CAN HELP: There are so many loose ends at the beginning and end of a semester. The time has come to make sure your syllabus is ready, your ecampus site is looking sharp, and enrollment is on target. The TLC is a great place to take care of all of these things and much more. We have the technology and know how to make this semester the best one yet for you and your students! Stop by today and let us help you.

JANUARY WORKSHOPS:

Download Gradebook and Format in Excel………..Nov. 6 Download Gradebook and Format in Excel…….... Nov. 17 Discussions of Issues We Have in Common...…..Nov. 17 TIPS FOR MAKING AN IMPACT ON ECAMPUS:

 Create an eye-catching banner for the top of the announcement page.  Change the buttons to suit the theme of your page.  Add, remove, or change buttons to reflect course content.  Add imagery and/or links to sites of interest.  Add a tutorial or video.  Keep it clear and simple.

SYLLABUS CHECKLIST: Once again it’s time to prepare for classes to begin and that means updating your syllabus.

Here is a check list for you to make sure none of the necessary components are omitted.

Make sure to send a copy to your division secretary to keep on record.

 Withdrawal policy  Financial Aid statement  Make-up exam procedures  The Texas Success Initiative statement  Code of Conduct

 Office hours & contact information  List of required materials  Attendance Policy  Stop before you drop statement  Drop statement

 Classroom Etiquette  ADA statement  Grading scale  Semester Calendar  Course description & learning objectives

“A good assignment has clear purpose that is directly related to accomplishing the course objectives.”

-Deborah Stewart, Effective Teaching: A Guide for Community College Instructors CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu

MID-COURSE EVALUATION TIPS:  Give examples on how well the students has met the learning objectives.  Address any issues with attendance, participation, & assignment deadlines.  Identify specific areas where improvement is needed.  Provide encouragement in areas of strength.  Be positive but honest and direct.  Address student’s skills or behavior, but not his/her intellect, personality, life experience, disability, race, class, age, or gender.

From Deborah Stewart’s book, Effective Teaching

NEW YEAR’S SUPERSTITIONS: New Clothes: Many people believe that if they wear new clothes on New Year day they will receive more new garments during the year. People wear red clothes as they believe red is symbolic of happiness and a bright future.

Newborn Babies are Lucky: Babies born on January 1st are considered to be the luckiest people throughout their lives.

Crying Should be Avoided: Many people believe that crying and wailing on New Year day is bad luck.

Avoid Profanity: Many people do not use foul language on New Year day and behave nicely.

Do Not Let the Precious Things Leave the House: It is believed that if any precious things like money, jewelry etc... leave the home on this day, luck will go out of home. In some countries people do not take the garbage out or vacuum on this day.

Erase All Debts: People pay all their debts before New Years day.

Keeping the Doors Open: All the doors of the house should be kept open at midnight to let the old year escape.

Make Noise: People believe that loud noise scares the devil; so New Years is celebrated with as much noise as possible. In many countries church bells ring at mid night for this reason.

Kiss at Midnight: It is believed that kissing at midnight increases the affections and attachments that will continue throughout the year.

Load Wallets and Cupboards: People believe that overloaded cupboards and wallets full of money bring luck and prosperity throughout the year.

Dance in Open Air: It is believed that dancing in open air, around a tree on New Years day brings luck in love and prosperity throughout the year.

Give Gifts: It is believed that one should not leave the home before someone first comes in. The first person to come in should bring gifts.

Drain the Bottle: People believe that draining the last remnants from a bottle of drink on New Years day brings good fortune.

The Wind's Direction: It is believed that the direction of wind during the sunrise on New Years day decides the luck for the coming year. Wind from east predicts natural calamities and wind from west predicts wealth but death of a person of great national importance. Wind from south predicts prosperity and wind from north predicts bad weather. No wind means prosperity and joy throughout the year.

Avoid Washing Dishes and Laundry: Many people believe that washing dishes and doing laundry on New Year day will lead to a death in the family. Most of them don’t even wash their hair thinking it to be unlucky.

Cedar Valley College

February 2009 Volume 32

Teaching Learning Center MOTIVATING STUDENTS: Intrinsic motivators include fascination with the subject, a sense of its relevance to life and the world, a sense of accomplishment in mastering it, and a sense of calling to it.

Advantages: This motivation can be long lasting and self sustaining. To develop this type of motivation one usually focuses on the subject rather than a reward.

Disadvantages: It is more difficult to use this method. It takes longer because you must be more familiar with the students you are teaching in order to reach all of them effectively and foster an interest in the subject matter. It helps if you feel passionately about the subject you’re teaching.

Extrinsic motivators include parental expectations, expectations of other trusted role models, earning potential of a course of study, and grades (which keep scholarships coming).

Advantages: It doesn’t require as much knowledge about the student and you can achieve results much more quickly.

Disadvantages: This type of motivation can often distract students from learning the subject.

It can be difficult to offer an appropriate reward and rewards should be changed and upgraded over time to have a satisfactory result. If the rewards stop the motivation often does too.

Research has also indicated that extrinsic motivators can have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation.

Strategies for motivation:  Become a role model for student interest. Deliver your presentations with energy and enthusiasm. As you display your motivation, your passion motivates your students. Make the course personal, showing why you are interested in the material.  Get to know your students. You will be able to better tailor your instruction to the students' concerns and backgrounds, and your personal interest in them will inspire their personal loyalty to you. Display a strong interest in students' learning and a faith in their abilities.  Use examples freely. Many students want to be shown why a concept or technique is useful before they want to study it further. Inform students about how your course prepares them for future opportunities.  Use a variety of student-active teaching activities. These activities directly engage students in the material and give them opportunities to achieve a level of mastery.

Continued on page 2...

WAYS TO SAY I LOVE YOU AROUND THE WORLD: Bulgarian: Obicham te Cambodian: Bon sro lanh oon Canadian French: Sh'teme Cantonese: Moi oiy neya Croatian: LJUBim te Danish: Jeg elsker dig Dutch: Ik hou van jou Filipino: Mahal ka ta Finnish: Mina" rakastan sinua French: Je t'aime Gaelic: Ta gra agam ort German: Ich liebe Dich Greek: s'ayapo Hungarian: Szeretlek Indonesian: Saya cinta padamu Iranian: Mahn doostaht doh-rahm Irish: taim i' ngra leat Italian: ti amo Japanese: Sukiyo Romanian: Te Ador Russian: Ya vas liubliu Scot Gaelic: Tha gra\dh agam ort Serbian: ljubim te Spanish: Te amo Swedish: Jag a"lskar dig Swiss-German: Ch'ha di ga"rn Thai: Khao Raak Thoe Vietnamese: Em ye^u anh Welsh: 'Rwy'n dy garu di.

Yiddish: Ich libe dich Yugoslavian: Ya te volim

USING THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE: The TLC has a number of books available for check-out that can jump-start your classroom and take the frustration out of teaching the same thing, the same way again this semester. It’s always a good idea to do a little research and inject fresh ideas into your teaching style. When you as the teacher are bored with the subject and or method of delivery, the students are the first ones to suffer. They will be bored and lack the motivation necessary to succeed in the course. Stop by today and energize your classroom!

Here is a sample of a few titles available for check-out:  Effective Teaching: A Guide for Community College Instructors  Engaging Ideas  Classroom Assessment Techniques  Effective Grading  Multimedia: Making it Work

“Become a role model for student interest. Deliver your presentations with energy and enthusiasm.”

-Vanderbilt Center for Teaching MOTIVATING STUDENTS CONT’D: CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE

◊ Teach by discovery. Students find it satisfying to reason through a problem and discover the underlying principle on their own.

Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue

◊ Use Cooperative learning activities. These are particularly effective as they also provide positive social pressure.

Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu

CLASSROOM E-MAIL TIPS :  Whether your course in online or in a traditional classroom, an email to each student at the start of the semester can really get things off on the right foot.  Students love to know that you are listening to them and willing to respond promptly to their emails.  If you receive an unacceptable email from a student, insist that they rewrite it according to your guidelines.  From Blackboard it is possible to send everyone in the class the posted announcement via email.

 Set realistic performance goals. Help students achieve success by encouraging them to set their own reasonable goals. Design assignments that are appropriately challenging in view of the experience and aptitude of the class.  Place appropriate emphasis on testing and grading. Tests should be a means of showing what students have mastered, not what they have not. Avoid grading on the curve and give everyone the opportunity to achieve the highest standard and grades.  Be free with praise and constructive in criticism. Negative comments should pertain to particular performances, not the performer. Offer nonjudgmental feedback on students' work, stress opportunities to improve, look for ways to stimulate advancement, and avoid dividing students into sheep and goats.  Give students as much control over their own education as possible. Let students choose paper and project topics that interest them. Assess them in a variety of ways (tests, papers, projects, presentations, etc.) to give students more control over how they show their understanding to you. Give students options for how these assignments are weighted.

Sources: www.vanderbilt.edu Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do, Harvard University Press, 2004, pages 32-42.

Linda Nilson, Teaching At Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, 2nd edition, Anker Publishing, 2003, pages 41-44.

Matt DeLong and Dale Winter, Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development, Mathematical Association of America, 2002, pages 159-168.

Happy Valentines Day!

Cedar Valley College

March 2009 Volume 33

Teaching Learning Center COOPERATIVE LEARNING IDEAS: Ginnette Serrano held a roundtable discussion here in the TLC at the end of January to share her ideas on the cooperative learning. She participated in a course at Richland which taught creative ways to introduce cooperative learning into the classroom. She started using these techniques and was pleased with the results. Once the census date has passed, she divides her class in to groups of three. She emails the class to let them know the groups have been assigned and to explain that the groups are for the students to encourage each other to finish the class. They will receive 20 bonus points if no one in their group drops. They are to remind their group members of important deadlines and will receive 2 additional bonus points for emailing the group weekly. Lastly the students are to help their group members with assignments and email them first if they have questions concerning the assignment and respond to one another’s emails. They will receive 2 bonus points for doing this through out the semester. You can monitor this by requesting the students copy you, the instructor, on each email.

You may wish to outline this fully in an email as well as in an announcement for them to refer and including an example email for them to follow. To manage students’ emails, set up folders for each class in Groupwise and have the emails filter into the appropriate folder upon receipt. Then when the time comes it will be easier for you to tally the results and award bonus points as earned.

Using this process helps students to communicate with each other, provide necessary encouragement, and gain a little bonus for their final grade. The idea is to also help with retention.

If students know they are letting down their entire group by dropping they may be less likely to do so.

E-MAILING GROUP MEMBERS:  Using eCampus,  Click on the <Communication> button  Click on the “Send email” link  Click on “ Select Users”

Example email used by Ginnette: Subject: Deadline Approaching Hello John and Mary, I am Ginnette. Welcome to the class. I wanted you to be aware that we have a deadline coming up this Friday. You have to turn in your Discussion Board 1. Discussions close on the due date so you will not be able to get your 25 points for the discussion if you miss the deadline.

Please do not hesitate to email me if you need help or have questions about the class. Also, remember we get 20 points for finishing the class, so do not drop!!

Ginnette

 Select your group members and me, the instructor  Add a subject to the email.

You do not need to put the class number or section, this is done automatically by the system. 

Type the message and make sure to type your name at the bottom of the email.

WELCOM A NEW FACE TO THE TLC: We would like to extend a warm welcome to Ginnette Serrano, the new Faculty Advisor for the Teaching Learning Center. Ginnette has been teaching Computer Science and Computer Literacy full-time at Cedar Valley College for the past 9 years. Prior to teaching at CVC, Ginnette taught high school Pre-AP and AP Computer Science at the Science and Engineering Magnet High School in Oak Cliff and prior to that she was a software developer for Tandy Corp.. Ginnette has been teaching online for 8 of her 9 years at Cedar Valley and currently teaches exclusively online courses.

Ginette’s passion is for her family and home. She and her husband, Alfonso have two children, Cristian,5, and Isabela, 3. She love to be with them and volunteers as much as possible at their schools. Ginnette loves scrapbooking, reading, and crafting in general.

Currently Ginnette is participating in the latest Vanguard course. She is excited to be part of the TLC, would love to hear from you, and is eager to help answer any questions you may have. Stop by the TLC and say “hi”!

Vanguard Online is “eye opening, thought provoking, inspiring, reflective, innovative....”

-Dr. Ron Williams, CVC

CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu

MIDTERM CHECKLIST:

VANGUARD & VANGUARD² Vanguard Online has been a hugely successful program created by Tim Xeriland, the Director of the Teaching Learning Center. Tim serves as the mentor/guide for best practices in online teaching.

Participants complete the course feeling motivated, energized, and ready to breathe new life into their own courses. As a certificate holder, Dr. Ron Williams declares Vanguard online to be eye opening, thought provoking, inspiring, reflective, innovative....I have been around CVC for several years and I sincerely believe that this is one of the top five most stimulating, informative, and expansive experiences in which I have been involved offered by the college. As I have stated many times, the TLC is the hidden treasure at CVC. I look forward to participating in more and similar academic, intellectually stimulating adventures provided to us from the TLC.” Upon completion of Vanguard Online, participants will be able to take part in Vanguard², the second installment in the Vanguard series. Participants will meet in person and discuss methods to improve the online experience and use software available in the TLC to implement the ideas discussed in the sessions. Graduates will have the opportunity to present their work to the administration and demonstrate the impact it can have on students.

 Make sure students are on track and aware of impending deadlines.  Send a personal email to touch base and encourage students to ask questions as needed.  Encourage students to visit the Tutor Center if necessary.  Encourage interaction between classmates.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! (March 16th-22nd)

Cedar Valley College

April 2009 Volume 34

Teaching Learning Center EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT: Mid-term is a great time to talk about effective time management. Here are some tips for you and tips to pass on to your students to help them be better, more successful students. First and foremost, it is important to get organized and learn to use your time effectively. It’s a good idea to log how you spend your time for a week then step back and see how you can improve your organization and time management. Judy Roberts, author of Effective Study Skills, details 10 guidelines for successful time management for students: Set goals for yourself. Set a study goal, like to read a chapter in an hour. Each day set multiple goals to help you get that much closer to your long term goal, like graduation.

Make a habit of recording all of your assignments. Make notes of exact assignments to keep track of what is due and when.

Make lists daily and/or weekly. People who make and use “to-do” lists report that they accomplish more and forget less.

Don’t procrastinate. Putting off until later what you should be doing now will have certain negative results. This will also affect your stress level having to finish things at the last minute.

Use your peak periods of concentration for difficult assignments or subjects. Find out when you perform your best and complete your most difficult assignments or subjects at that time.

Use review to your advantage. Students who review on a regular basis are less likely to feel they need to stay up all night the night before a test to study.

Plan for 2 to 3 hours of study time for each hour spent in class. This rule of thumb is an estimate for the time requirements for a successful college student.

Use distributed, not mass practice. Distributed practice or study means a smaller amount spread over several days instead of several hours in one day.

Use small amounts of time if large block are not available. Students must learn to study when the time presents itself. This may be an hour here or there rather than a 5 hour block of time.

If you discover that you have too many activities, don’t be afraid to withdraw from some of them. You must assign priorities to your activities and eliminate the ones that are of less importance.

TIME MANAGEMENT PITFALLS:  Procrastination  Setting unrealistic goals  Long term goals with no immediate steps  Not having a plan of action  Working in a disorganized space  Not getting enough sleep  Not concentrating on one task at a time  Planning too many activities

SUDOKU Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the number 1 through 9.

“People who make and use “to-do” lists report that they accomplish more and forget less.”

-Judy Roberts, Effective Study Skills CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu TLC Staff: Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford Faculty Advisor: Ginnette Serrano

GREEN FACTS: Americans throw away enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.  Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap Texas.  About 75 percent of the water we use in our homes is used in the bathroom.

A PEEK FROM THE DISCUSSION BOARD: Yet again, Vanguard was a complete success! Many of the participants had some wonderfully creative ideas during the discussion on Innovative Online Teaching. We thought you might enjoy a peek at what they mentioned…  Allowing groups to submit online articles for discussion on the board.  Requiring students to keep an online journal.  Using voice chat to add another dimension.  Using an avatar to create an online identity.  Allowing 2 or more online courses to work together.  Adding some movie clips for students to watch and comment on.  Sending students out into the real world to collect information and report their findings to the  discussion board.  Incorporating games.  Using blogs and allowing the students to post a link to them on the discussion board.  Encouraging students to be creative and use video, PowerPoint and other media on the discussion board.  Awarding bonus points for a prompt response to an email.

 Each of us uses approximately one 100-foot-tall Douglas fir tree in paper and wood products per year.

 Starting discussions on controversial subjects.

Almost half of the average home's energy consumption is used for heating.

 Posting milestones so students will know if they are on track for the semester.

 Dividing the class into teams, giving each team a debate topic and allowing the teams to debate on the discussion board.

 Utilizing peer evaluation of projects/papers.  Allowing students to be responsible for presenting some of the course content.

Cedar Valley College

May 2009 Volume 35

Teaching Learning Center A GLIMPSE INTO VANGUARD² The first offering of Vanguard² was a complete success. Graduation was May 1 and the participants were eager to show off everything they learned during the four week course. The first two weeks of Vanguard² consisted of classes where participants came to the TLC and took part in discussions concerning a variety of subjects relating to online teaching. The goal was to give all participants the tools to update their eCampus site to be much more appealing and effective for students. The second half of the course gave participants time to implement what they had learned in the first two weeks. Here is a brief synopsis of what took place the first two weeks.

Day One: Tim Xeriland introduced the basics of how to design an online course. Fundamental questions were posed from What the Best College Teachers Do including:  What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning?  How can I best help and encourage them to develop these abilities and to use them?  How can my students and I best understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning?  How can I evaluate my efforts?

Day Two: Tim discussed website design. He gave several tips to make eCampus cleaner, easier to navigate, and more efficient. Here are a few of the tips he gave to the class:  Navigation – Make sure there are no empty, missing, or unnecessary buttons. Streamline down to as few as possible. Rename the buttons if necessary for clarification  Clicks – Three clicks should allow you to arrive at the material desired.  Attachments – Use simple files like .rtf, it’s helpful to have options for Mac users.  Location – Keep dates in a central location and be redundant with important information.  Accessibility – Use Alt tags when images are used and include descriptive titles, not just “click here.” Be sure links work and if there is audio, be sure there is a transcript.  Simplicity – Less is more! Remove gratuitous material.

Day Three: Tim Covered the online syllabus and suggested to use bullet points whenever possible to condense lengthy ideas and to avoid big blocks of text.

Continued on page 2...

QUICK TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR ECAMPUS SITE:  Add a banner to personalize your site.  Include a tutorial for problems students encounter frequently.  Make sure all links work properly.  Add a bulleted list whenever possible to avoid large areas of text.  Is there a trail of breadcrumbs?

Can students navigate the site easily?  Keep it simple! Remember that less is more.  Dividing the class into groups on the DB can make students less overwhelmed with the amount of content and more likely to post or respond.

A GLIMPSE INTO VANGUARD² CONT’D...

Day Four: Ginnette Serrano presented ideas of how to incorporate group work into your online course. Here are some great types of group assignments:  Discussion Groups

Role Playing

 Formal Debate



Writing Groups



Students as Teachers



Group Projects

 Base Groups Day Five: Christa Crawford covered the basics of using graphics on eCampus. She showed the group how to create banners and how to use graphics effectively.

Day Six: Ginnette and Christa shared their knowledge and ideas regarding Chats, Blogs, Wikis, Twitter, and Social Networking.

Day Seven: Ginnette and Christa showed the participants how to use Articulate and Captivate for their lectures and tutorials.

Day Eight: Tim covered video and avatars. The group was able to see Second Life in action and the benefit of students being able to “see” one another and chat in real time.

“What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning?”

-What the Best College Teachers Do CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford Faculty Advisor: Ginnette Serrano

ECAMPUS GRADE BOOK IN EXCEL FORMAT: We were fortunate here in the TLC to have Mary Lou present a workshop on downloading your eCampus grade book and putting it in Excel format. There are some specifics that all online instructors should know to make sure their spreadsheet is done correctly. Once you are logged in to eCampus and ready to download your grades, do so then save them to your desktop. They will then be able to be opened in Excel. Please remember the following:  Do a separate spreadsheet for each section in Excel  Always include a grading scale on the spreadsheet (may choose to display it via a footer)  Make sure your Excel document is set to “landscape”

END OF THE SEMESTER TIPS:  Make sure to give your syllabus and blue rolls to your division secretary.  If you plan to be off campus this summer, update your out-going message on your voice mail.  If you will not be checking GroupWise, be sure to leave a message indicating you will be away for a given period of time.  Have a safe and happy Summer! See you in the Fall...

 Format the cells so all text is visible (center & expand cells as necessary)  The necessary columns are the students first and last name, student ID, & grades  The Header (custom header) should include: (left) name of course, (center) college, (right) date, semester, & section number  Save the file as the course title, section number, & semester  Any 9000 sections should be placed on a separate spreadsheet  Always include each students’ final grade on the spreadsheet (including all “W” grades)  Please choose to show gridlines, it makes it easier to read once it’s printed Now you’re ready to give your spreadsheet to Mary Lou. She keeps track of your “blue rolls” and will make sure the final grades are entered and submitted to LeCroy. If you have any questions, feel free to drop by the TLC or contact Mary Lou directly at ext. 8050.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

Cedar Valley College

June 2009 Volume 36

Teaching Learning Center MAKING ASSIGNMENTS WORTH GRADING Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Anderson state in their book, “Effective Grading” that, the way to save time, make every moment count, and integrate grading, learning, and motivation is to plan your grading from the first moment you begin planning the course. You should consider not only how you will shape goals but how your students will. To do otherwise-to regard grading as an afterthought– is to create wasted time, dead-end efforts, and post-hoc rationalizations as students question their grades.  Begin by considering what you want your students to learn. Effective grading practices begin when the teacher says to themselves, by the end of the course, I want my students to be able to…. Concrete verbs such as define, argue, solve, and create are more helpful than vague verbs such as know or understand or passive verbs such as be exposed to.  Select tests and assignments that both teach and test the learning you value most. Choose assignments that are likely to elicit from your students the kind of learning you want to measure. Pay attention to what you name your assignments and test and what those names mean to your students. Calling a paper a “literary review” as opposed to a “term paper” will get students to listen carefully to all parts of the assignment and look past all preconceived notions related to the “term paper.”  Construct a course outline that shows the nature and sequence of major tests and assignments. This skeleton helps you see whether your assignments fit your course goals and whether they are manageable in terms of workload. The skeleton helps you put together an “assignment-centered course.” Research suggests that the assignment-centered course enhances students’ higher order reasoning and critical thinking more effectively than the courses centered around text, lecture, and coverage (Kurfiss, 1988). This model answers the question “what should my students learn to do?”  Check that the tests and assignments fit your learning goals and are feasible in terms of workload. Ask yourself two questions: 1.

Fit: Do my tests and assignments fit the kind of learning I most want?

2.

Feasibility: Is the workload I am planning for myself and my students reasonable, strategically placed, and sustainable?

 Collaborate with your students to set and achieve goals. Through discussion, try to reach agreement and clear understanding about the goals of the course and the reasons for your major assignments and tests. Then ask students to write down their personal goals for learning in the course and some strategies by which they think they can accomplish those goals.  Give students explicit directions for their assignments. Students will complete the assignment they think you made, not the assignment you actually made. With a careful and thorough assignment sheet, you can be more confident that an assignment is going to measure the knowledge and skills you want it to.

Above content taken from “Effective Grading: A tool for Learning and Assessment,” Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Anderson

THE TLC IS HERE TO HELP Don’t forget, we in the TLC are here and eager to help you tackle whatever challenge you face with your online or face-to-face class. Whether you would like to add some new media to an existing course or plan out a brand new one, we’re here to lend a hand. The possibilities are endless...  Update your syllabus to be more conducive to online use.  Create tutorials for frequently asked questions.  Divide your discussion board into groups.  Create a plan for updating your eCampus site.  Learn to use Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and more.  Learn how to use images with eCampus.  Experience and use Second Life in your course.

SUDOKU Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the number 1 through 9.

“Choose assignments that are likely to elicit from your students the kind of learning you want to measure.”

-Effective Grading: A tool for Learning and Assessment TEACHING LEARNING CENTER: Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford Faculty Advisor: Ginnette Serrano

GREAT FREE DOWNLOADS:  PhotoFiltre - Great photo editing program. photofiltre.free.fr/download_en.htm  PDF995 - Converts documents to PDF format. www.pdf995.com/download.html  MSN Clipart - Free Clipart. office.microsoft.com/en-us/ clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us  Abstract Fonts - Great free Font site. Allows you to see a preview of your text in the font of your choice. www.abstractfonts.com/

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: Mwauna Davis and Derrick Sledge presented a workshop in the TLC on classroom management. Several methods were discussed to help teachers establish a strong foundation of mutual respect and control in the classroom.

Establish rapport with your students. Find something you may have in common with the student(s), or something unique about them. Work on building a relationship with the class and among the students in the class.

Respect is crucial. Explain to your students your personal philosophy concerning respect.

Treat them as you would like to be treated, be consistent, address problems as they arise and use nonverbal communication when ever possible.

Remember to use positive reinforcement. Be consistent, act promptly, be age-appropriate, identify a specific behavior, and reinforce any improvement toward the desired behavior.

Derrick asked the group to consider what, as educators, we are responsible for in terms of our interactions with our students. He continued on to have the group define “rigor” and how it relates to classroom management. Lastly, the group discussed “recourse” in terms of behavioral interventions.

Link to the Student Code of Conduct: https://www1.dcccd.edu/cat0910/ss/code.cfm?loc=3

Cedar Valley College

July 2009 Volume 37

Teaching Learning Center LOOKING AT HOW WE LEARN: Knowledge is constructed, not received – We begin as children to develop our view of how the world works. All of the sensory input we receive helps us to construct our version of reality.

Ken Bain has found that “at some point we begin using those existing patterns to understand new sensory input. By the time we reach college, we have thousands of mental models, or schemas, that we use to try to understand the lectures we hear, the texts we read, and so forth.”

Mental models change slowly - To accomplish “deep” learning students must (1) face a situation in which their mental model will not work (2) care that it does not work strongly enough to stop and grapple with the issue at hand; and (3) be able to handle the emotional trauma that sometimes accompanies challenges to longstanding belief.

Questions are crucial – Once we are able to get students to think and question the ideas presented to them, we have succeeded in laying a foundation for learning. “The more questions we ask, the more ways we can index a thought in memory,” says Ken Bain.

Caring is crucial – Ken Bain explains that “people learn best when they ask an important question that they care about answering, or adopt a goal that they want to reach. If they don’t care, they will not try to reconcile, explain, modify, or integrate new knowledge with old.”

What motivates? What discourages? – Students seem to learn more when they do not receive external rewards. If they are faced with receiving a reward for completing a certain task their interest in the subject decreases if the reward is taken away. A student who receives positive feedback and encouragement rather than an extrinsic reward is more likely to keep an interest in a given subject over time.

Taking a developmental view of learning – Learning not only impacts what you know, but how you know something.  Separate Knowers – These types of ‘knowers’ prefer to remain objective, or skeptical about a subject and are always willing to take part in a debate about it.  Connected Knowers – These types of ‘knowers’ examine the other person’s point of view rather than trying to shoot them down. They are not “dispassionate, unbiased observers. They deliberately bias themselves in favor of the thing they are examining.”

Implications for teaching – People are most comfortable learning when they are solving problems that appeal to or interest them. “They develop an intrinsic interest that guides their quest for knowledge, and an intrinsic interest…that can diminish in the face of extrinsic rewards and punishments that appear to manipulate their focus. People are most likely to enjoy their education if they believe they are in charge of the decision to learn,” says Ken Bain.

Taken from “What the Best College Teachers do”, Ken Bain

TIPS FOR FOSTERING LEARNING:  Raise questions that challenge a students’ preconceived ideas.  Help them deal with the emotional upheaval that follows having long term beliefs challenged.  Encourage them to question everything. The more questions they ask, the more involved they are and the more apt they are to learn.  Make the subject matter appealing and relevant, help them want to learn the material. The more they care, the more they learn.  People learn more if they believe they are in control of their choice to learn.

SUDOKU Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the number 1 through 9.

“People are most likely to enjoy their education if they believe they are in charge of the decision to learn.”

-What the Best College Teachers Do CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford Faculty Advisor: Ginnette Serrano

FACTS ABOUT JULY:  Independence Day was not declared a legal holiday until 1941.  Fireworks were made in China as early as the 11th Century.  The U. S. Congress didn't adopt Uncle Sam as a national symbol until 1961.  The first two versions of the Liberty Bell were defective and had to be melted down and recast.  The American national anthem, the "Star Spangled Banner," is set to the tune of an English drinking song ("To Anacreon in Heaven").

USING THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE: The TLC has a number of books available for check-out that can jump-start your classroom and take the frustration out of teaching the same thing, the same way again next semester. It’s always a good idea to do a little research and inject fresh ideas into your teaching style. When you as the teacher are bored with the subject and or method of delivery, the students are the first ones to suffer. They will be bored and lack the motivation necessary to succeed in the course. Stop by today and energize your classroom!

Here is a sample of a few titles available for check-out:  Effective Teaching: A Guide for Community College Instructors  Engaging Ideas  Classroom Assessment Techniques  Effective Grading  Multimedia: Making it Work  What the Best College Teachers Do  Critical Thinking  The Well-Managed Classroom  Effective Study Skills

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY JULY 4TH!

Cedar Valley College

August 2009 Volume 38

Teaching Learning Center PREPARING TO TEACH: Many of the best teachers plan backwards when preparing a course. They actually begin with the results they hope to foster in their students. A study was conducted and the outcomes are detailed in Ken Bain’s book “What the best college teachers do.” There were four fundamental inquiries which emerged in the study: What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning? 

How can I best help and encourage them to develop those abilities and the habits of the heart and mind to use them?  How can my students and I best understand the nature, quality, and progress of their learning? How can I evaluate my efforts to foster that learning?

When planning a course, there should be a big question the course raises and ideally the students should be motivated to pursue the answer. Next, it must be determined what skills are required in order for students to answer the question raised and a framework must be implemented to guide students toward reasoning themselves to find the answer. Ask yourself what experiences can be put into the course to encourage students to refine their reasoning abilities?

Students will always come to you with a set of mental models; decide which ones you will want them to challenge. Try putting them in situations where their existing models will not work. Help them reason or create and use new information to solve problems, not rely on you to tell them everything they need to know and understand. Try to ask “what key information or concepts can I clarify to provide students with foundations (scaffolds) from which they can continue to build their understanding?” A much richer question than “what will I cover?”

There is a tendency, some areas of study more than others, to give students facts and insist that they memorize them in order to “know” the material. They will most likely not remember any of the facts shortly after the course or test has ended. There are many “good” students who excel at memorization and at figuring out what is expected of them in order to receive an “A.” They appear to be head and shoulders above the pack but in reality are no closer to true understanding of the material than the so called “weaker” students. The very best teachers determine ways to incorporate new truths that challenge and pose questions. They teach students how to learn, how to think and reason, how to read more actively and effectively and how to understand what they have read.

Continued on page 2...

SYLLABUS CHECKLIST:  Office hours & contact information  List of required materials  Attendance Policy  Drop statement  Withdrawal policy  Financial Aid statement  Make-up exam procedures  The Texas Success Initiative statement  Code of Conduct  Classroom Etiquette  ADA statement  Grading scale  Semester Calendar  Course description & learning objectives

PREPARING TO TEACH CONT’D...

Students must learn to judge their own work. They simply must be able to analyze their learning and determine what is interesting to them. They must know the questions they need to ask in order to remain excited and interested in a given subject.

Highly effective teachers develop better learning experiences in part because their focus is on fostering learning in their students. Everything they do is geared towards the development and understanding of their students. Ken Bain notes the best teachers “follow few traditions blindly and recognize when change in the conventional course is both necessary and possible.”

From “What the Best College Teachers Do,” Ken Bain

“What should my students be able to do intellectually, physically, or emotionally as a result of their learning?”

-What the Best College Teachers Do CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford Faculty Advisor: Ginnette Serrano

SUDOKU: Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the number 1 through 9.

WE CAN HELP:  Drop by the TLC often to check out eCampus tips and tricks.  Find out the latest multimedia options for your classes.  Learn how to use Articulate to add tutorials or lectures to you site.  Take part in great, informative workshops.  Check out books to learn more to enhance your students’ learning experience.

WELCOME BACK! HAVE A GREAT SEMESTER!!

Cedar Valley College

September 2009 Volume 39

Teaching Learning Center CONDUCTING CLASS A study was conducted to settle the debate over whether the lecture is the most effective way to deliver material to students. Ken Bain, author of “What the Best College Teachers Do,” uncovered seven fairly common principles among the teachers studied.

1. Create a Natural Critical learning Environment: “’Natural’ because students encounter the skills, habits, attitudes, and information they are trying to learn embedded in questions and tasks they find fascinating.” “’Critical’ because students learn to think critically, to reason from evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using a variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions about the thinking of other people.” Some teachers are able to create this environment with their lectures while others use discussions, role playing, field work, or a variety of other techniques to achieve this environment.

2. Get Students’ Attention and Keep It: Teachers are most successful when beginning a class with “a provocative question or problem that raises issues in ways that students had never thought about before, or by using stimulating case studies or goal-based scenarios.”

3. Start with the Students Rather Than the Discipline: Socrates used this method as explained by Michael Sandel, a Harvard political theorist, “by attending to what people thought they knew, and then he tried to gradually and systematically to wrench them from their familiar place.” This forces the students to grapple with an issue from their own perspective, prior to them knowing much about it, getting them to articulate a position.

4. Seek Commitments: This is often carried out on the first class day. Teachers lay out the plans, promises, and commit to making the course worthwhile, and then invite the students to make a commitment to the learning objectives and to attend class.

5. Help Students Learn Outside of Class: Teaching students material that will best help and encourage them to learn outside of class is much more beneficial than teaching material simply because it’s traditional or because it covers a subject.

6. Engage Students in Disciplinary Thinking: Ken Bain notes “the most effective teachers use class time to help students think about information and ideas the way scholars in the discipline do.”

They don’t concentrate on only teaching their discipline; they focus on “teaching students to understand, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate evidence and conclusions.”

7. Create Diverse Learning Experiences: “The brain loves diversity,” as stated by Jeanette Norden.

The best teachers seemed to offer a nice balance between the systematic approach and the creative, non-traditional approach.

From “What the Best College Teachers Do,” Ken Bain

QUICK TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR ECAMPUS SITE:  Add a simple banner  Remove any unnecessary buttons  Make sure all links work properly  Make sure it takes no more than 3 clicks to get where you need to go  Try to avoid using dates when possible, fewer revisions will be necessary next semester  Make sure it is clear where students should begin  Stop by the TLC for more tips and let us show you how to incorporate Articulate into you site!

SUDOKU Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the numbers 1 through 9.

“The brain loves diversity.”

- Jeanette Norden, “What the Best College Teachers Do” CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8239 Tim Xeriland: TLC Director txeriland@dcccd.edu Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford

TOP 10 PLACES TO VIST IN 2009:  Beirut  Washington D.C.  Galapagos  Berlin  Las Vegas  Fjallnas, Sweden  Hawaii  Vienna  Doha, Qatar  Dakar, Sengal

New York Times

NOTES ON CRITICAL THINKING: As a student I spent much of my time memorizing facts for tests. I made flash cards, would write and rewrite information, anything to cement those precious required tidbits into my brain. Now I find that many of those details are all but gone. Or I can recall a specific date but none of the important information connected to it. Like many of us, our students are also wasting a lot of time and energy with straight memorization. Getting them to fully understand and question a specific concept will help them remember all the details connected to it. Understanding what was going on in the world during World War II and why things happened the way they did will naturally help us remember when things occurred and who was involved. The details are much easier to recall when we see the bigger picture. By memorizing disconnected facts we don’t fully understand the given concept and are not thinking critically. It works well to determine the key fundamental and powerful concepts associated with your given field. Then use these concepts throughout the semester to create a bigger picture for the students. They will be able to relate the information to their own lives and remember it in a much more effective way.

Cedar Valley College

October 2009 Volume 40

Teaching Learning Center CREATING A CLASSROOM AGENDA Running an effective classroom is much like running an effective meeting, as observed by Sharon Hamilton, English professor, IUPUI. When planning a meeting you determine what topics must be discussed, what tasks the participants need to accomplish , and what steps need to be taken to accomplish these tasks. Next you determine how long each task will take and plan the meeting accordingly. “Your experience tells you that a well-planned agenda often results in a well-executed meeting,” states Ms. Hamilton. She continues to say that an agenda can be prepared for the class either in written form as a handout, written on the board as the class progresses, or as a combination of the two.

Objectives for the class: Focuses the class and you on what is to be accomplished.

Outline of major topics for discussion: A place to make the connections between the objectives and discussions clear for the students.

Approximate time for each topic: Allows extra time for lively discussions but helps keep everyone on track.

Opportunities to check understanding: Plan to check your students’ understanding after talking about two or three difficult concepts to safeguard against confusion later.

The one-minute essay: Students write or apply what they just discussed then share it with another student; differences are discussed and questions addressed.

The one-minute chat session: Pair up students and allow them to discuss the concept in their own words or apply it to a new situation or problem.

Follow-up for retention and extension: This can be accomplished through reading or writing assignments, “an entry into new work,” or through a variety of other tasks. By making connections between the class work and the follow-up work, students are able to see the importance of homework assignments.

Closure: Prior to the end of class, revisit your objectives. Ask the students to either write about the objectives or write down any questions they may have about the concepts discussed and respond to these questions at the beginning of the next class meeting.

The benefits: Sharon Hamilton notes that the benefits are many and include “explicit connections between each class, recapitulation of important concepts from previous classes, opportunities to clarify potential confusion, a strong signal to students that confusion is a necessary part of learning and that students’ questions play a significant role in the learning of the entire class.”

Adjournment!

Sharon Hamilton, English, IUPUI More Quick Hits: Successful Strategies by Award-Winning Teachers

SOME OF THE BEST FREE SOFTWARE OF 2009:  Audacity: Free sound editor. audacity.sourceforge.net  Zamzar: Free site for file conversion. Easily converts a .wps file to .doc. www.zamzar.com  Timetoast: Free way to create timelines for project management and other applications. www.timetoast.com  Photosynth: Free way to create 3-d interactive experiences from photos. www.photosynth.com  CamStudio: Free screen capture and voice recording software. www.camstudio.org

www.pcmag.com

A NEW FACE IN THE TLC: Timothy Sonnier has worked for the DCCCD college district for four years, and Cedar Valley for three years. He graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Masters Degree in Computer Science. Tim is thrilled to be a part of the Teaching Learning Center and looks forward to helping the faculty and staff with their courses. Tim loves to swing dance and has been doing so for the past three years. He was also in a swing dancing performance group called the ACME Swing Dance Company! Tim has been known to make soap, occasionally practices archery, and martial arts. He also likes dogs, though he currently does not have one. Please feel free to stop by the TLC to learn more about Tim and welcome him to our team!

Timothy Sonnier, TLC Instructional Specialist

“...a well-planned agenda often results in a well-executed meeting” Sharon Hamilton, English, IUPUI More Quick Hits: Successful Strategies by Award-Winning Teachers

CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Teaching Learning Center Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8083 Hours: M-TR 8:30-4:30 F 8:30 - 12:00 & 1:00 - 4:30

THE ECAMPUS 9 TRANSISTION The first look at eCampus 9 revealed a similar yet more straightforward new version. What was once a long complicated journey to get from point A to point B has now been truncated to a nice, clean straight line. The interface appears to be much more user-friendly and easier to navigate. There are several changes which make eCapmus 9 a great improvement: Drag and drop modules: The home page, course menu, control panel, and other areas are now able to be moved around and altered easily and quickly to achieve the desired result.

Hide/Show button: One button at the top of the home page allows the instructor to easily toggle between instructor and student views.

Director: Tim Xeriland Phone: 972-860-8239 email: txeriland@dcccd.edu

Instructional Specialist: Timothy Sonnier Phone: 972-860-8031 email: tsonnier@dcccd.edu

Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford email: ckcrawford@dcccd.edu

Simple renaming, deleting, or hiding: A simple right-click allows the instructor to change the name of a menu item, delete or hide it.

‘Visible’ hidden items: When a menu item is hidden a gray box appears next to the item to show it is hidden to the student.

Subheadings: Subheadings may be created to label a set of course menu items and make them stand out from the others.

Dividers: Dividers may be created to further separate the subheadings and areas from other areas on the course menu.

Adding content: Very similar, the menus look different but everything you need is easily accessible.

Training videos are available if you would like to take a look: Go to eCampus then access courses > training and support > instructor tutorials eCampus version 9.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Cedar Valley College

November 2009 Volume 41

Teaching Learning Center USING WRITING TO PROMOTE THINKING John Bean identifies seven steps teachers can take to integrate writing and critical thinking into their course. Teachers must plan their course with these in mind and prepare a plan to foster them throughout the course.

Step 1: Become familiar with some of the general principles linking writing to learning and critical thinking. A way to begin the critical thinking process is to make students aware of the problems around them. It is thought by some that it is beneficial to begin every class with “something that is a problem or a cause for wonder,” John Dewey (1916). John Bean defines writing as “both a process of doing critical thinking and a product communicating the results of critical thinking.”

Step 2: Plan your course with critical thinking objectives in mind. Design assignments that require students to use the content they acquire rather than simply acquiring it. Problems, questions, and other issues are opportunities to delve into the subject and motivate students.

Step 3: Design critical thinking tasks for students to address. “A crucial step in teaching critical thinking is to develop good problems for students to think about,” says Bean.

Tasks can be simple questions involving the required reading or complex issues regarding major disciplinary issues.

Step 4: Develop a repertoire of ways to give critical thinking tasks to students.  Formal writing assignments  Thought-provokers for exploratory writing  Small group tasks for problem solving  Inquiry-based class discussions  Think-on-your-feet questions for ‘cold calling’ in class  In-class debates, panel discussions, fishbowl questions  Practice exam questions

TIME SAVING TIPS FROM THE TLC: Use hotkeys when you can to save time! Here is a list of a few common and useful hotkeys.  Ctrl + c = Copy  Ctrl + v = Paste  Ctrl + z = Undo  Ctrl + x = Cut  Ctrl + s = Save  Ctrl + u = Underline

Step 5: Develop strategies to include exploratory writing and talking in your courses.

Engage students in active discussions that solve difficult problems. Once they learn to thoroughly analyze a specific issue and argue their point they will be better equipped to write successful exploratory papers.

Step 6: Develop effective strategies for coaching students in critical thinking.

Critiques are valuable to show students the kind of critical thinking you are looking for.

Step 7: When assigning formal writing, treat writing as a process. Class time can be used effectively to brainstorm with classmates. Require students to then submit something early on in the writing process ie. a prospectus, question and thesis, or abstract. These are much easier to grade and provide some feedback while illustrating writing is a process.

Engaging Ideas, John C. Bean

 Ctrl + i = Italics  Ctrl + b = Bold  Ctrl + p = Print  Ctrl + f = Find  Alt + Tab = Allows you to toggle between open windows  Printscreen = Copies a screenshot of the current screen to the clipboard  Alt + Printscreen = Copies a screenshot of a current active window to the clipboard

SUDOKU Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the numbers 1 through 9.

“A crucial step in teaching critical thinking is to develop good problems for students to think about.”

-Engaging Ideas, John C. Bean CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Teaching Learning Center Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8083 Hours: M-TR 8:30-4:30 F 8:30 - 12:00 & 1:00 - 4:30

Director: Tim Xeriland Phone: 972-860-8239 email: txeriland@dcccd.edu

Instructional Specialist: Timothy Sonnier Phone: 972-860-8031 email: tsonnier@dcccd.edu

Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford email: ckcrawford@dcccd.edu

PRODUCTIVITY TIPS: This is a recap of Tim Xeriland’s well received workshop titled ‘Work Hackers.’ Tim clues us in to a multitude of excellent time saving practices which streamline the workday resulting in far less stress!

Here are a few of his great ideas in case you missed hearing them in person.

To-do lists: Many of us use a to-do list but end up with several things that we never get around to crossing off the list. Tim suggests the list be categorized by importance. If you have some tasks which are very large, it’s a good idea to break those items down into smaller steps so you won’t continue to put them off.

Park on a slope: Before you leave for the day organize your workstation so you will be able to ‘hit the ground running’ first thing in the morning. Studies show we are most productive in the morning so if you are able to jump right in when you arrive at your desk you will be able to mark more off your to-do list.

Focus on short bursts: Most people are able to concentrate for no more than 50 minutes at a time.

Figure out how long you are capable of focusing your attention and work for that period of time then take a break. Tim suggests increasing this amount of time gradually over time and working up to 50 minutes or more if you are unable to focus for longer than a few minutes.

Stop caring about things that don’t matter: Some things that have been on your to-do list forever may be able to be dropped off. You may be able to locate a business to do a task for you like scanning all of your pictures to make them digital.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Cedar Valley College

December 2009 Volume 42

Teaching Learning Center MEMORY IN THE CLASSROOM Tim Xeriland conducted an excellent workshop on Memory here in the TLC. There were several methods Tim suggested to improve our retention of information and the retention rates of our students. Sometimes students and teachers struggle to remember lists of facts or numbers, but following some of these tips, you might be surprised at what you can recall.

The Primacy/Recency Effect shows us that we tend to remember things at the beginning and the end. Dividing study times or lectures up into shorter sessions providing a larger instance of beginnings and endings thus increase the possibility of retention. When you cram and study all day, you are more likely to recall the start and finish and very little in between.

Imagery is very important in the course of retention, called the Method of Loci. If you are able to see a clear picture of the things you are attempting to remember, you have a much greater chance at cementing the information in your mind. When trying to recall a series of words imagine them involved with something you do frequently like driving to work or connect them with your body. The more outlandish the better – it helps you to remember!

Use Mnemonics to connect images with numbers to help remember things in a sequence.

For instance: One is Gun, Two is Shoe, Three is Tree, Four is Door and Five is Hive. Picture whatever it is you’re trying to remember in conjunction with the Gun, Shoe, Tree etc… If you are trying to remember that you need Milk, eggs, and bread at the store you may picture and gun shooting a gallon of milk, eggs being smashed as you walk on them, and loaves of bread hanging from a tree.

Acrostics are a series of words where the first letter of each word is the same as the first letter of the word you are to remember. Like Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge or Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.

Acronyms are words spelled with the first letter of each item you are trying to recall. Like Roy G. Biv to remember the colors, FACE to recall notes in music, or FOIL to remember first, outer, inner and last in mathematics.

Chunking is very helpful when it comes to a series of numbers. Divide the numeric list into smaller ‘chunks' and you will recall more information.

Getting the Context is very helpful as well. Have students read quickly through an entire chapter to make sure they see all the images and take in the bigger picture. Then have the go back and reread to focus on the detail or areas they didn’t understand the first time though. If you concentrate on one area and read and reread it, you may miss an image on the next page which would clearly explain the material.

THE TLC IS HERE TO HELP Don’t forget, we in the TLC are here and eager to help you tackle whatever challenge you face with your online or face -to-face class. Whether you would like to add some new media to an existing course or plan out a brand new one, we’re here to lend a hand. The possibilities are endless...  Update your syllabus to be more conducive to online use.  Create tutorials for frequently asked questions.  Divide your discussion board into groups.  Create a plan for updating your eCampus site.  Learn to use Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and more.  Learn how to use images with eCampus.  Experience and use Second Life in your course.

SUDOKU Fill in the missing numbers so every row, column and quadrant contains the numbers 1 through 9.

“Which is better, memory or understanding?”

-Tim Xeriland, Memory in the Classroom Workshop CEDAR VALLEY COLLEGE Teaching Learning Center Room A206A 3030 North Dallas Avenue Lancaster, Texas 75134 Phone: 972-860-8083 Hours: M-TR 8:30-4:30 F 8:30 - 12:00 & 1:00 - 4:30

Director: Tim Xeriland Phone: 972-860-8239 email: txeriland@dcccd.edu

Instructional Specialist: Timothy Sonnier Phone: 972-860-8031 email: tsonnier@dcccd.edu

ECAMPUS GRADEBOOK IN EXCEL FORMAT We were fortunate here in the TLC to have Mary Lou present a workshop on downloading your eCampus grade book and putting it in Excel format. There are some specifics that all online instructors should know to make sure their spreadsheet is done correctly. Once you are logged in to eCampus and ready to download your grades, do so then save them to your desktop. They will then be able to be opened in Excel. Please remember the following:  Do a separate spreadsheet for each section in Excel  Always include a grading scale on the spreadsheet (may choose to display it via a footer)  Make sure your Excel document is set to “landscape”  Format the cells so all text is visible (center & expand cells as necessary)  The necessary columns are the students first and last name, student ID, & grades  The Header (custom header) should include: (left) name of course, (center) college, (right) date, semester, & section number  Save the file as the course title, section number, & semester

Instructional Assistant: Christa Crawford email: ckcrawford@dcccd.edu

 Any 9000 sections should be placed on a separate spreadsheet  Always include each students’ final grade on the spreadsheet (including all “W” grades)  Please choose to show gridlines, it makes it easier to read once it’s printed Now you’re ready to give your spreadsheet to Mary Lou. She keeps track of your “blue rolls” and will make sure the final grades are entered and submitted to LeCroy. If you have any questions, feel free to drop by the TLC or contact Mary Lou directly at ext. 8050.