SoCTL

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at CTL

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Changes in Teaching and Learning

Elizabeth Douvan, in a book chapter entitled Capacity for Intimacy (in The Modern American College, by Chickering et al.), wrote about the importance of faculty-student relationships within the context of a student’s academic development. Douvan addressed the specific needs of several distinguishable student age groups: traditional college students (18-22 years old), mature students (30-50 years old), and older students (50-80 years old). She made two important observations about the development of faculty-student relationships relative to all student groups: First, “faculty likely represent models of a particular life-style and a style of interpersonal behavior that vary from the received styles of many students bring with them when they enter college.” Second, whether faculty members recognize it or not, they influence students in many different ways, and in roles that vary considerably by institution type. For example, Douvan observes that, unlike their colleagues from large universities, faculty at smaller colleges often have interactions with their students that take them outside of the classroom. These roles vary “from colleague in college governance to employer of the student’s babysitting services.”

25 years after the publication of The Modern American College, the importance of the faculty-student relationship is at the forefront of the literature on student development and retention. Research by Astin (1993) and others over many decades underscores the positive contribution of that relationship to successful outcomes. Betsy Barefoot, co-director and senior scholar at the Policy Center for the First Year of College writes in her article, The First-Year Experience: Are We Making It Any Better?, about the value of increasing faculty-to-student interaction within the critical first year of college. Barefoot acknowledges the tenure and promotion struggles that university faculty members face in spending precious little research time with students outside of the classroom. However, she also draws our attention to the increasing number of universities recognizing the value of faculty-student interaction and points to how some large universities are focused on increasing this interaction consistent with their research mission. For example, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas, El Paso, support student collaboration with faculty members on scholarly research. At the University of Virginia and the University of South Carolina, students live in residence halls with resident faculty members, so as to increase informal faculty-student interaction outside of the classroom. Finally, Harvard University and The Pennsylvania State University both enlist the support of tenured faculty in first-year seminars.

The Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), ongoing studies in which many of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities participate, both point to a correlation between faculty-student interaction and overall student academic success. According to the 2005 NSSE report, students who participated in a first-year seminar reported that they interacted more frequently with faculty, and that that they gained more from their first year of college. The CCSSE Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice include student-faculty interaction.

-Martin Springborg

References

Chickering, A. W,. & Associates (1981). The ModernAmericanCollege. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Astin, A. (1993). What Matters in College? Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Barefoot, B. O. (2000). The First-Year Experience: Are We Making It Any Better?. About Campus, January/February, 12-18.

To find out more about the CCSSE and NSSE, go to:
Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE)
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

Dates to Remember

MAR 1-3: REALIZING STUDENT POTENTIAL / ITEACH 2007 CONFERENCE

Minneapolis Community & Technical College / Metropolitan State University , Minneapolis Campus

Program Travel Planner Register Now!

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March Discipline Workshops

MAR 16-17: ENGLISH COMPOSITION: CROSSING LINES, FORGING CONNECTIONS & EXTENDING OPPORTUNITIES
Century College. Discipline Workshop Information

MAR 16: USING TECHNOLOGY TO TEACH FOREIGN LANGUAGES
St. Cloud StateUniversity. Discipline Workshop Information

MAR 25-26: CHINA SYMPOSIUM 2007
St. Cloud StateUniversity. Discipline Workshop Information

CTL Resources for Faculty

Lots of Books!

Sometimes it can be hard to find just the right source or information or help to polish your teaching and improve student learning. CTL recognizes the need for readily available literature about teaching and learning. Consequently, we’ve assembled an impressive collection of hundreds of teaching- and learning-related books, periodicals, and other publications and materials in the CTL library.

The collection is available through an online search. The library search site is www.ctl.mnscu.edu/iteach/libsearch.cgi?=1&=*&=3&login=accept. On that page, a simple form allows you to browse the collection virtually–just enter a topic into the “title” or “subject” field, or use any other fields to find the perfect resource. In addition to using the online catalog, any faculty member can stop into the CTL office to browse our collection and borrow a book or other materials. (You don’t even need a library card!) If you’re away from St. Paul and you can’t find a resource in your local area, we’ll even ship our copy to you.

Recent additions to the library include:

• “Teaching Inclusively” edited by Mathew Ouellett
• “Creating Successful E-Learning” by Michael Allen; and
• a definitive guide to faculty development by Mary Deane Sorcinelli and her colleagues.

-Thomas Wortman