In his book First-Order Principles for College Teachers, Robert Boice writes “we chronically imagine ourselves pressed for time, always behind in what we had hoped to cover and supposing there are no opportunities for breaks or playfulness.” Sound familiar? He is talking about preparing for class. That book was published in 1996, but its focus on faculty time management is still relevant today as we struggle with our teaching, service, and research obligations.

What does our management of time mean in terms of student engagement and success? Do our students feel the effects of our balanced (or imbalanced) work lives? The research in which we must engage presents a particularly difficult conundrum. The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement shows that full-time faculty respondents devote about 60% of their time to teaching-related activities, while 15% of their time is devoted to research.

Research also presents a very interesting and potentially enriching solution, however. We can do better by ourselves and our students bringing our research into our classrooms. When we work toward marrying research with time in the classroom, we develop a work life that is more seamless and therefore manageable, and our students become more engaged in course content.

Simply talking about our research with our students goes a long way toward getting students engaged, as is evidenced by a project conducted at University of Hawaii, Mānoa. The project, entitled Mānoa Faculty Research: Patterns and Themes, Methods and Metaphors brought students and faculty together in a dialogue about research in the larger context of freshman collaborative teaching and learning in Honors courses. The result was a rich conversation and heightened student interest in the various fields that were discussed.

-- Boice, Robert. (1996). First-Order Principles for College Teachers. Bolton: Ankor Publishing.
-- Kirk-Kuwaye, Christine et al. (2004). Mānoa Faculty Research: Patterns and Themes, Methods and Metaphors. Retrieved November 16, 2006, from University of Hawaii, Mānoa Web site: http://www.fmp.hawaii.edu/publications/Manoa_Faculty_Research_final.pdf

For more information about the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement, go to: Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE)

MAR 1-3: REGISTER NOW FOR REALIZING STUDENT POTENTIAL / ITEACH 2007 CONFERENCE
Be among the first to register for our largest statewide faculty development conference. By doing so today, you know that you can begin to prepare for the best networking and systemwide educational experience. Conference details
With only 70 Days to go, check out the travel planner and the readings and resources pages!

Coming Soon!

CTL Instructional Development Grants Announcement: Learn about this year's round of grants and their focus.
Spring Discipline Workshop Announcement: Topics, dates, and location are being finalized now.

Teaching Tip of the Week

Online Learner Leadership

Have you ever used learner leaders in your online course?

During the semester choose student leaders for each week to guide the online discussion, motivate participation by other students, check progress on team projects, share personal experiences as they relate to the topics covered, and mentor students who are having trouble with content and/or the technology.

By using learner leaders, you can increase student engagement by helping them to buy-in, transitioning your course into their course. If you like, you can tie a portion of their grade into this experience.

Source: Hanna, Donald E. (2000). 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Online Groups p. 21. Atwood.

CTL Report

Distance Counseling Workshop

With CTL Discipline Workshop funding, faculty planners Maryann Bush of Riverland College, and Tim Hatfield and Nick Ruiz of Winona State University hosted a workshop on Distance Counseling at Century College. The workshop, an intensive training session for our system's counselors, was held on September 14 and 15, 2006. Ready Minds, a provider of continuing education approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors, administered the training.

Workshop planners and Ready Minds provided system counselors with an opportunity to explore contemporary needs and methods (such as email, voicemail and web cam) for distance delivery of counseling services. Most participants reported that the training session provided them with an orientation towards distance counseling, that they learned about adapting counseling techniques through technology in order to plan for and structure effective counseling sessions, and that they came away from the workshop with examples of how they could integrate distance counseling strategies into their scope of practice.

Interested in applying for funds for your own discipline workshop? Visit the Discipline Workshop section of the CTL website for a description of the program, an application for funds, planner’s management guidelines, and for information on upcoming workshops.