Teaching in Higher Ed

On this week’s episode, James Lang shares about his book: Small Teaching Quotes What I started to notice was that the coaches who paid attention to these little things, and focused on small fundamentals, tended to do a lot better than the teams that didn’t. —James Lang I’m a big believer in the opening and closing minutes of class … I think those are really ripe opportunities for small teaching. —James Lang I try to do framing activities to help the students realize the value of what we’re doing. —James Lang Resources Small Teaching: Small modifications in course design or communication with your students. These recommendations might not translate directly into 10-minute or one-time activities, but they also do not require a radical rethinking of your courses. They might inspire tweaks or small changes in the way you organize the daily schedule of your course, write your course description or assignment sheets, or respond to the writing of your students. Book: The Power of Habit* by Charles Duhigg Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 71 with Derek Bruff Video: How to be Alone Article: Boring but Important MERLOT Awards

Expert in engaged learning, Peter Felten from Elon University, discusses choose your own adventure assessments in higher education. The podcast explores the importance of student autonomy, innovative teaching approaches, and the challenges of grading. Emphasizes the significance of student choice in education.

Todd Zakrajsek, Conference Director at Lilly Conferences, discusses key take-aways like emphasizing effective teaching methods, debunking learning style myths, and promoting active learning strategies. They explore scent-based memory cues, inclusive conversations, and interactive audience tools. The podcast highlights the joy of learning, challenging binary teaching methods, and fostering a community of engaged educators.

On today’s show, Betsy Barre joins me to share about the research on course evaluations. Guest: Betsy Barre Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University After making the move to Rice in 2012, she was able to pursue her interest in undergraduate pedagogy by working with students and faculty in Rice’s newly developed Program in Writing and Communication. In this role, she taught a series of disciplinary-based first-year seminars and contributed to the PWC’s faculty development programming for those teaching first-year writing courses. And in July of 2014, she began her current position as Assistant Director of Rice’s newly established Center for Teaching Excellence. More Quotes One of the biggest complaints faculty have about student evaluations is that it’s not a reflection of teaching effectiveness. –Betsy Barre Just because a student likes a class doesn’t necessarily mean they’re learning. –Betsy Barre It turns out that the harder your course is, the higher evaluations you get. –Betsy Barre If students think the work is valuable and something that’s helping them learn, you can give up to twenty extra hours a week of work outside of class and students will still give you higher evaluations. –Betsy Barre When we want to know if students have learned, one of the best things to do is just ask them if they’ve learned. –Betsy Barre Part of the movement in student evaluations now is to ask questions about learning, rather than questions about what the faculty members are doing. –Betsy Barre Notes Article: Do Student Evaluations of Teaching Really Get an “F”? Screencast: Student Ratings of Instruction: A Literature Review RateMyProfessor Analysis: Gendered Language in Teaching Evaluations Betsy’s Six Most Surprising Insights about Course Evaluations Taken from her article “Do Student Evaluations of Teaching Really Get an “F”?” Yes, there are studies that have shown no correlation (or even inverse correlations) between the results of student evaluations and student learning. Yet, there are just as many, and in fact many more, that show just the opposite. As with all social science, this research question is incredibly complex. And insofar as the research literature reflects this complexity, there are few straightforward answers to any questions. If you read anything that suggests otherwise (in either direction), be suspicious. Despite this complexity, there is wide agreement that a number of independent factors, easily but rarely controlled for, will bias the numerical results of an evaluation. These include, but are not limited to, student motivation, student effort, class size, and discipline (note that gender, grades, and workload are NOT included in this list). Even when we control for these known biases, the relationship between scores and student learning is not 1 to 1. Most studies have found correlations of around .5. This is a relatively strong positive correlation in the social sciences, but it is important to understand that it means there are still many factors influencing the outcome that we don’t yet understand. Put differently, student evaluations of teaching effectiveness are a useful, but ultimately imperfect, measure of teaching effectiveness. Despite this recognition, we have not yet been able to find an alternative measure of teaching effectiveness that correlates as strongly with student learning. In other words, they may be imperfect measures, but they are also our best measures. Finally, if scholars of evaluations agree on anything, they agree that however useful student evaluations might be, they will be made more useful when used in conjunction with other measures of teaching effectiveness. Recommendations Bonni Think about how you administer the student evaluations. Check out her Betsy’s screencast (see above). Betsy Design your own evaluation instrument and distribute it yourself, especially at the mid-point of the source. Take advantage of the teaching center on your campus for student interviews and classroom observations. Are You Enjoying the Show? Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

On this week’s episode, Dave and I share our top five gadgets for teaching. Guest: Dave Stachowiak Bonni’s twitter: @bonni208 Dave’s twitter: @davestachowiak 1. Wireless presentation Remote Commonly referred to as a “wireless presenter”* Logitech remotes* are reliable and fairly inexpensive Video Downloader 2. iPad Pro iPad Pro specs iPad Pro on Amazon* iPad pro case from Sena 3. Apple Pencil Apple Pencil 4. Apple Watch use as a non-distracting notifier use as a timer can seamlessly record and Send reminders to OmniFocus TIHE article about using Due app 5. Web Cams with Zoom app Logitech web cam with 1080p * Sign up for Zoom* Recommendations Bonni: iPad app for pencasting: Doceri* Dave: Cloud database software: Airtable*

On today’s episode, I talk with Sean Michael Morris about what the best digital teachers do. Sean Michael Morris, Digital Teacher and Pedagogue www.seanmichaelmorris.com Twitter: @slamteacher Sean is a digital teacher and pedagogue, with experience especially in networked learning, MOOCs, digital composition and publishing, collaboration, and editing. He’s been working in digital teaching and learning for 15 years. His work as a pioneer in the field of Critical Digital Pedagogy is founded in the philosophy of Paulo Freire, and finds contemporary analogues in the work of Howard Rheingold, Cathy N. Davidson, Dave Cormier, and Jesse Stommel. He is committed to engaging audiences in critical inspection of digital technologies, and to turning a social justice lens upon education. Quotes There are no principles that I’m aware of in instructional design that allow for the human to creep in; it’s very mechanistic. –Sean Michael Morris I believe that teaching isn’t method; teaching is intuitive. –Sean Michael Morris Every time we step into a classroom or design a new course … we have to step back and realize we don’t know anything, that each time it is new. –Sean Michael Morris I approach everything by asking, “What is it that you’re wanting to get out of this?” and, “What is it that you want your students to get from this?” –Sean Michael Morris Recommendations Bonni: The courses at digitalpedagogylab.com/courses TIHE Episode 57: Teaching with Twitter Sean Book: A Pedagogy for Liberation* by Paulo Friere and Ira Shor Book: The Qualitative Manifesto* by Norman K. Denzin Book: Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of Education* by Mark Mason Book: Savvy* by Ingrid Law Twitter user: Simon Ensor (@sensor63) Twitter user: Pat Lockley (@patlockley) Are You Enjoying the Show? Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Bonni shares strategies to help “get it together” during stressful times of the semester. Quotes Never succumb to the temptation to say you don’t have enough time to stop. —Bonni Stachowiak Listening might be the most important part of our jobs. —Bonni Stachowiak Sometimes we’re so worried about entertaining our students that we miss the opportunities for them to have creative insights of their own. —Bonni Stachowiak Celebration. Celebrate what you are doing. Song: Celebration by Kool & The Gang Watch on Youtube  Stop. Collaborate. And listen. Stop spinning, collaborate, and listen (which is maybe the most important part of our jobs). Song: Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice Watch on Youtube List of projects. Create actionable names for your project tasks and use a system you trust. Song: Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not by Thompson Square Watch video on Youtube Back to Life … Back to reality Get real with your aspirations Song: Back To Life by Soul II Soul Watch Video on Youtube Recommendations: Mobile App: Due Website: http://www.dueapp.com/ Find on the App Store*

In today’s episode, Dr. Bill Robertson introduces us to “action science” and the ways he is making his teaching relevant, creating opportunities for the most active kind of learning I can imagine. Guest: Bill Robertson Dr. Skateboard Bill has a Ph.D. in Education and has been a skateboarder for over thirty-five years. He has done hundreds of demonstrations nationally and internationally in festivals, events and in academic settings. Bill has been an educator for over twenty years. His academic areas of expertise are science education, curriculum development, and technology integration. He also teaches and does research in the areas of problem-based learning and action science. Find him online: Linkedin Dr. Skateboard Website Twitter skateboard videos Quotes People who are learning a second language may know exactly what they’re talking about but might not be able to express themselves. —Bill Robertson The things that made me successful in skateboarding made me successful in education. —Bill Robertson I realized there was a lot of physics and concepts in these sports that can be expressed and could be engaging and motivating for the students. —Bill Robertson The skills [students] are really good at can apply to something like education … if they can master something, they can probably master something else. —Bill Robertson You have to find ways to integrate the interests of your learners into your curriculum. —Bill Robertson Resources Teaching in Higher Ed episode 015: How to get students to participate in discussion, with Stephen Brookfield Teaching in Higher Ed post: Sticky notes as a teaching tool Recommendations: From listener Pamela: Book: Training in Motion* by Mike Kuczala. Emphasizes the importance of movement for learning (and not just regular exercise) Bill: Non-profit organization: Skateistan. Using skateboarding as a tool for empowerment, with a large commitment for young women in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa. Educational Portal: Edutopia. Dedicated to transforming K-12 education. Are You Enjoying the Show? Rate/review the show. Please consider rating or leaving a review for the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on whatever service you use to listen to it on (iTunes, Stitcher, etc.). It is the best way to help others discover the show. Give feedback. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics or guests. Subscribe. If you have yet to subscribe to the weekly update, you can receive a single email each week with the show notes (including all the links we talk about on the episode), as well as an article on either teaching or productivity.

Doug Leigh on helping graduate students come up with interesting research topics. Dr. Doug Leigh earned his PhD in instructional systems from Florida State University, where he served as a technical director of projects with various local, state, and federal agencies. His current research, publication, and lecture interests concern cause analysis, organizational trust, leadership visions, and dispute resolution. He is coeditor of The Handbook of Selecting and Implementing Performance Interventions (Wiley, 2010) and coauthor of The Assessment Book (HRD Press, 2008), Strategic Planning for Success (Jossey-Bass, 2003) and Useful Educational Results (Proactive Publishing, 2001). Leigh served on a two-year special assignment to the National Science Foundation, is two-time chair of the American Evaluation Association’s Needs Assessment Topic Interest Group, and past editor-in-chief of the International Society for Performance Improvement’s (ISPI) monthly professional journal, Performance Improvement. A lifetime member of ISPI, he is also a member of the editorial board for its peer-reviewed journal, Performance Improvement Quarterly. More QUOTES Some of the differences between doctoral work and master’s work have to do with the amount of original data collection. —Doug Leigh I try to set up the expectation that when a dissertation chair is doing a good job, they’re giving a lot of feedback, and that may involve several iterations of drafting. —Doug Leigh Though we call them defenses, they’re not interrogations. They’re not about getting lined up to be battered with questions to prove your worth before a student is allowed into the club. —Doug Leigh Students who can avoid just reaffirming what’s already known are able to position themselves to do research that sticks with them as a passion. —Doug Leigh Resources Murray Davis’s “That’s Interesting!” article at Philosophy of the Social Sciences (paywalled) Science’s 2015 Breakthrough of the Year (free), see the runners-up here (paywalled) Doug also shares his reworking of Davis’s index that he developed for his students, along with representative examples … Interestingness via Organizing or Disorganizing: things which have been thought to be similar are truly dissimilar, or that things believe to be dissimilar are actually similar. Example: John A Bargh’s “The Four Horsemen of Automaticity: Awareness, Intention, Efficiency, and Control in Social Cognition“ Interestingness by Composing or Decomposing: what seems to be varied and complex is really better understood simply, or something that is currently understood to be simple is actually elaborate, distinct, independent, heterogeneous, and diverse. Example: Quanta’s “The New Laws of Explosive Networks” Interestingness by Abstraction or Particularization: that which people assume are experienced by just a certain few are actually shared by all, or vice versa. Example: NYT’s “Mass Murderers Fit Profile, as Do Many Others Who Don’t Kill“ Interestingness by Globalizing or Localizing: what seems to be a global truth is really just a more local one, or that something thought to be experienced just locally is actual more global. Example: Pew Research Center’s Views on Science poll Interestingness by Stabilizating or Destabilizating: what seems to be stable and unchanging is actually unstable and changing, or things thought to be unstable are surprisingly stabilit and even permanent. Example: BBC’s “The Libet Experiment: Is Free Will Just an Illusion?” (video) Interestingness by Effective or Ineffective Functioning: some aspect of the world that was believed to function effectively is actually ineffective, or vice versa. Example: Derek Muller’s “Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos” (video) Interestingness by Re-assessment of Costs or Benefits: what seems to be bad is in reality good, or what was believed to be good is actually bad. Example: On Point’s “Is Recycling Really Worth It?” (radio broadcast) Interestingness by Inter-dependence or Independence: what seem to be unrelated (or independent) phenomena are in reality correlated (or inter-dependent) phenomena, or vice versa. Example: Quartz’ “This article has been perfectly formatted for maximum reading comprehension“ Interestingness by Inconsistencies or Consistencies: what has been thought to be able to exist together are in reality things that cannot, or phenomenena thought to be mutually exclusive actually can co-exist. Example: Quanta’s “Physicists and Philosophers Debate the Boundaries of Science“ Interestingness by Positive or Negative Covariation: what has been thought to co-vary positively actually co-varies negatively, or what has been thought to co-vary negatively actually co-varies positively. Example: Big Think’s “How Hearing Something Now, Can Lead You to Believe the Opposite Later“ Interestingness by Dissimilarity or Similarity: phenomena that seem to be similar are in reality opposite, or phenomena that seem to be opposite are really similar. Example: The Atlantic’s “How ‘Quantum Cognition’ Can Explain Humans’ Irrational Behaviors“ Recommendations Bonni: Book: Doing a Literature Review* by Chris Hart Doug: Software: Harzing’s Publish or Perish Research: ERIC Thesaurus of Descriptors

Tim Clydesdale talks about how we can all better support our students in navigating college and beyond by talking about vocation. Quotes [Vocation] is about the type of life you want to lead and the type of person you want to be. —Tim Clydesdale It may be that the broader sense of who you are isn’t being fully expressed in your work but it’s being expressed in many other places: in your volunteer work, or your care for a family member. —Tim Clydesdale Vocation is a much better way to talk to students [than career] because it captures much more of the breadth of life as it’s really lived. —Tim Clydesdale Resources Article: Inside Higher Ed Organization: Council of Independent Colleges The Purposeful Graduate* What are some of the mistakes universities make when attempting to develop effective programs to facilitate more conversation about vocation? Design a program that wasn’t organic to the campus Hiring people who didn’t have a high emotional intelligence Recommendations Bonni: Keep a list of ideas for each class you have been scheduled to teach. Tim: Good food helps with conversation. Use a slow cooker (Crock-Pot) with a manual switch. This allows you to cook but also be engaged in conversation.