October 9, 2006
SoCTL

Last week’s SoCTL discussed faculty peer mentorship, and outlined some key principles of successful mentor/mentee relationships. Mentorships can in themselves lead to some exciting improvements on campuses, but they often feed and inspire other closely-related programs such as peer review of teaching.

Peer review (or observation) of teaching is a practice of formative evaluation that some faculty have come to embrace as a welcome alternative or supplement to traditional summative course evaluation. In Preparing for Peer Observation: A Guidebook , Marilla Svinicki and Karron Lewis note the importance of a faculty peer mentorship component to peer observation and formative evaluation.

However, despite many benefits to peer evaluation, there are faculty members that are reluctant to participate in such a process. In their article Collaborative Peer Review: The Role of Faculty in Improving College Teaching, Larry Keig and Michael Waggoner note several “disincentives,” from faculty attitudes toward academic freedom to their values with respect to the institution's rewards. They also offer practical incentives for increasing faculty interest and participation. Some may be of great assistance as you try to develop a peer evaluation program on your campus.

To learn more about faculty peer observation and evaluation, including the process of establishing an effective program on your campus, visit the following online sources:

Svinicki, Marilla and Lewis, Karron. (1995). Preparing for Peer Observation: A Guidebook. Retrieved October 4, 2006, from The University of Texas at Austin Center for Teaching Effectiveness Web site: http://www.utexas.edu/academic/cte/PeerObserve.html

Keig, Larry and Waggoner, Michael D. (Volume 23-2).Collaborative Peer Review: The Role of Faculty in Improving College Teaching. Retrieved October 4, 2006, from ERIC Higher Education Digests as provided by The National Teaching and Learning Forum Web site: http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/digests.htm.

 
Dates to Remember

OCT 9:  CALL FOR PROPOSALS - RSP/ITEACH 2007
Submit your proposal for the Realizing Student Potential/ITeach Conference by November 17! Conference location is Minneapolis Community and Technical College, March 1-3, 2007
For more conference information

OCT 12-13: POWER TOOLS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT IN COUNSELING
Location: Cragun's Conference Center, Brainerd, MN
For more information
Sponsor: Center for Teaching & Learning

OCT 12-13: CAMPUSES ARE CITIZENS: What's Your Story?
Location: Earle Brown Center, Brooklyn Center, MN
For more information
Sponsor: Minnesota Campus Compact

OCT 12-13: ATEA REGION 5 CONFERENCE: "The Art of Innovation in Education"
Location: Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, S.D.
For more information
Sponsor: American Technical Education Association

OCT 19-20: DESIGNING WITH TECHNOLOGY
Location: St. Cloud Technical College
For more information and conference brochure
Sponsor: Center for Teaching & Learning

NOV 9-10:  NEVER AGAIN, ALL OVER AGAIN: Teaching Genocide
Location: Landmark Center & Metropolitan State University, St. Paul
Registration closes October 31.
Sponsor: Center for Teaching & Learning
 

Teaching Tip of the Week
Dealing with Incivility in the College Classroom (Part 3/3)

So what do you do in your course to prevent incivility? Use this checklist with your syllabus and opening session procedures to see if have done as much as you can.

Clearly list your course and personal expectations, with respect to student behavior. Discuss it during the opening session of class. Don't expect that if you have it listed on the syllabus that they will "read it on their own". It is easier to understand the expectations at the beginning than it is to have them "interpreted" in the middle.

Model your expectations in everything you do, in class and out.

Remember your audience. Most of these students aren't used to lecture. They come to higher education with a variety of active learning experiences. They want to be involved. Learning is a process.

Engage your students through online and group discussions. Groups can even contract what they expect of each other.

Talk about yourself and let them get to know you and what you value.

Learn about your students, showing them that you care about their dreams and their hopes for themselves and from your course.

Finally, be willing to listen. Most of these ideas aren't revolutionary. Listen to your students and colleagues. Why reinvent the wheel when you have wheelwrights all around you?

Source: Provitera McGlynn, Anna. (2001). Successful Beginnings for College Teaching. Atwood.


CTL Report

RSP/ITeach Conference 2007
Call for Proposals!

We've launched the call for proposals for Realizing Student Potential/ITeach 2007. This year's conference theme is The First-Year Student in the 21st Century. We hope that you will consider presenting this year. Submit your proposal by November 15!

You'll be part of a program that features two nationally noted speakers. We have arranged for Betsy Barefoot, co-director of the Policy Center on the First Year of College and Mark Taylor, author of Generation X Goes to College.

CTL’s Realizing Student Potential and ITeach conferences have been combined into one event. The change in format creates a single event which focuses on teaching and learning issues, including technology integration and instructional design. In addition, the March 1-3 scheduling gives faculty from around Minnesota the opportunity to join their 800+ Metro colleagues on their common professional development day (March 2).

Look for future updates on RSP/ITeach in the “Dates to Remember” section of the Weekly Update.

     

October 9 , 2006