Congratulations to all of the new LU graduates. The holiday season is quickly approaching and as your mind works overtime to come up with that perfect gift, we want to encourage you to find some time to rest during the break. One way to do that productively is to take a look at your teaching philosophy. It might be time to update it especially if you were able to critically self-reflect about your work during this past semester. The journaling community at LU continues to grow and we want you to be a part of it. Look for the announcement of self-reflection sessions in the spring semester. University of Iowa professor Stephen Bloom created quite a stir with his op-ed piece in The Atlantic. Nate Kreuter's response in Inside Higher Ed provides a nice counterbalance. His thoughts validate the efforts we have pursued by creating the Faculty Learning Communities program at LU. The four current FLC have flourished and continue to work hard. Remember that we will be asking for suggestions for FLC for the 2012-13 academic year. Think about what you are missing most in your academic career and suggest that as a FLC. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is moving forward with the new Core Curriculum requirements that will take effect in 2014. Your LU Core Committee, chaired by Rebecca Boone, has completed the first phase of the review of the current core at LU and will begin to meet again in 2012 to look at modifying the new core curriculum under the revised guidelines. The main change is that the component requirement has been limited to 42 hours which is a reduction of six hours from the previous limit. That means that the core curriculum will look different at LU come 2014. Dr. Patricia Alexander will be visiting LU to present an interactive workshop on February 6, 2012. The session will be held in 702 MJGL from 1:00 until 2:00 PM. Look for more information to come in January. Happy holidays!

Have you seen the Moneyball movie? If so, you might understand what is happening in some classrooms around the country. Data is being mined to help the teacher provide the best learning experience. Marc Parry wrote a very interesting article about this technique. "Today, half of students quit college before earning a credential. Proponents feel that making better use of data to inform decisions, known as 'analytics,' can help solve that problem while also improving teaching." Quantitative literacy (QL), also known as numeracy or quantitative reasoning (QR), is a "habit of mind," competency, and comfort in working with numerical data. Individuals with strong QL skills possess the ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. They understand and can create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence and they can clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats (using words, tables, graphs, mathematical equations, etc., as appropriate). The preceding definition comes from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) of which Lamar University is a member. You can find all sorts of useful information on the AAC&U website including rubrics that can be used to measure learning outcomes. If you still haven't reached your QL quotient, take a look at this terrific article by Rose Marie Ward, Monica Schneider, and James Kiper titled Development of an Assessment of Quantitative Literacy for Miami University. As advocates for enhancing the QL abilities of all students, they write, "assessing the QL of a university's students can help inform the development of QL initiatives; these initiatives can also push students one step closer to being quantitative literate adults. While one would presumably never be proud to say that they cannot read, there is a wide social acceptability of dismissing quantitative concepts by saying, 'I am not good with numbers." We hope you have had a wonderful semester. Hopefully at this point you are seeing the fruits of your labor. By that we mean that your students have met all of the learning outcomes you set for your class. If they have not, perhaps it is time to ask for help. The CT+LE is here for you. We encourage you to take a look at the services we offer and do not hesitate to contact us to set up a consultation. If you are looking for a good book to read over the holiday break, we recommend Ken Bain's What the Best College Teachers Do. The MJGL has a copy and so does the CT+LE.

Some new evidence in the continuing debate over the impact of large classes on teaching and learning: The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario has just released a report that notes a lack of consensus on whether class size alone is a key factor in learning. However, the report concludes that "if size matters ... teaching methods and course design probably matter more." Dr. Alice Cassidy offers this teaching methods that promotes active learning especially when you ask your students to read material to prepare for class. Have your students read a newspaper article about Killer Whales and Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to prepare students (most logically for biology non-majors) to conduct scholarly research in the discipline. Along with this assigned pre-reading, give each student a colored slip of paper (1 of 3 colors). Each color is a different question, such as ‘What words in the article would you use to find out more about the subject in a web search?’; ‘What would you do first to find a peer-reviewed journal article that relates to this article?’ Tell them to come to class with their answer. You can then pass the tickets along to a reference librarian in MJGL and ask them to lead a computer session for the students to teach them about databases, Google scholar, etc. The student answers on the tickets end up guiding the computer lab, showing the students that we are helping them by using their feedback, hence it is highly relevant to them. This teaching method provides relevant skills that can be used in any situation. A good way to align this learning experience with your learning outcomes is to assign them a research essay. The 15th annual Wakonse South Conference on College Teaching will take place March 30 through April 1, 2012. The conference will be held at Canyon of the Eagles Resort in the Texas Hill Country. The conference features engaging conversations about learning and teaching among college faculty, many stimulating presentations by conference participants, and beautiful surroundings all combined to create a renewing, refreshing, and wonderful conference. Past participants have reported that they were re-energized and enjoyed learning, teaching, socializing, and relaxing. The cost for the entire conference, including all meals and two nights of accommodation for a Non-TAMU faculty member is $395.00. For a single occupancy, add $140 (subject to availability). Please note that registration is first come, first serve.

There is good news on the student success front at LU as the course proposal was approved by the curriculum committee. That means that University Success Seminar LMAR 1101 will be offered in the Fall semester of 2012. We will be in need of a number of student-centered, empathetic and passionate faculty to teach this very valuable course. The syllabus has a heavy emphasis on both hard (critical thinking, quantitative literacy) and soft (study skills, time management) skills. The text being used for the first round will be On Course: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life by Skip Downing who believes that students should accept personal responsibility, discover self-motivation, master self-management, and employ interdependence in order to be successful. Look for more information about this exciting development very soon. The Active Research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Faculty Learning Community (FLC) met again recently to continue their discussion on this very topic of student success. As active practitioners, they have identified several challenges to teaching and are developing strategies to address each impediment. Their ultimate goal is to develop new scholarship that can benefit all of us. If you are curious about the latest developments, we encourage you to dialog with current members including: Chiung-Fang Chang, JJ Chen, Jessica Dandona, Debra Greschner, Ashwini Kucknoor, Charlotte Mizener, Randy Smith, Vanessa Villate, or Christine Wilbur. The Midwest Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is currently accepting proposals for their annual conference to be held on April 20 in South Bend, Indiana.This year’s theme is “At Home and Abroad: Teaching and Learning Without Borders,” and the submission deadline is set for 11:00 AM Tuesday, January 17, 2012. Acceptance notification for proposals will be sent out Wednesday, February 15, 2012. CT+LE has donated the most recent edition of Diane Halpern's book Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking to the Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL). You can find it on the faculty development recommended reading bookshelves on the sixth floor of MJGL just outside the CT+LE suite.

During the last eighteen months that the CT+LE has been operating, we have had the joyous occasion to engage in many stimulating conversations about teaching and learning. When the conversation turns to the use of teaching methods that promote active learning, we receive a variety of opinions. Very frequently we hear the oft repeated excuse that there is no way we can use those methods in our (insert discipline) class because we are required to teach large amounts of information. The use of team-based, problem-based, or collaborative methods (to name a very small few) is bemoaned because it takes longer to get students organized in class. We also hear that the faculty feel a lot of pressure to get through a very specific amount of topics before the end of the semester. What is lost in all of this talk is the idea of learning. At the end of the semester, we might be quiet proud that we were able to get through all of the material, but what did our students really learn? If we presented the material to them, does that presuppose that they learned it? Of course we know from experience that this is not true. In fact, research proves that this type of teaching is not effective for the long term and usually promotes memorization for recall on tests rather than deep learning. If we are helping students to be critical thinkers, then the focus needs to be on what they are learning not how much. Now we know that this breadth versus depth argument is complex. But let's take a step back and think about it for a moment. When you are creating your course and you write down the outcomes, what you are truly expecting your students to be able to do when they finish your class, aren't you expecting them to learn? So what is really important is that they fully grasp the concepts that you are teaching and be able to apply them to different situations. In most instances, you are beginning the class with the most basic and usually the most important concepts. Once you have them understanding those concepts, you are scaffolding newer more difficult material on top of that. The entire concept is based on establishing an anchor of information that they can then attach new material to. The long term memory is what is really important. Especially if these students are your majors but even if they are not. Isn't it important for them to know the concepts of your discipline for their general everyday lives? If not, why are we teaching them things that really don't matter? Further, don't we want to move them up the hierarchy of Bloom's Taxonomy? Moving your students from remembering information to application and then to synthesis and judgement is the ultimate goal of teaching. Mary E. Berg, who edits The Teaching Professor writes, "During [a recent faculty development] discussion, many of my colleagues commented that using engaged learning techniques in the classroom took too much time. They weren’t able to teach all the material and ended the term with way more content than they could possibly cover. I’ve sat in enough lecture halls to know that neither I, nor my fellow students, have necessarily learned all that professors attempt to “cover” in a course. Yes, the professors lectured. Yes, I took notes, read the textbooks, memorized the materials, and took the tests. But at the end of the term, at the end of my degree, and 10 to 20 years later, what courses and what materials do I remember?" It is something to think about. We will be providing some foundational research articles over the next posts that will be interesting to anyone who is struggling with this dilemma.

As we enter the home stretch of the Fall 2011 semester at Lamar University, we want to remind you that the Center for Teaching+Learning Enhancement is here for you. Take a look at the services we offer and let us know if there is something else we can do to help you improve as a teacher. In addition, remember that the Quality Enhancement Plan indicates that LU will increase the use of teaching methods that promote active learning in all of our classes but especially in the core courses. You can download a copy of the QEP now. If you are looking for some teaching techniques specific to your discipline, contact us for some individualized attention. As you begin to think about your courses for next semester, we wanted to suggest you take a look at a terrific article by Suzanne Weinstein and Shao-Wei Wu entitled Readiness Assessment Tests vs. Frequent Quizzes: Student Preferences. They write, "If an instructor’s objective is for students to do the readings prior to class and be prepared to participate fully in class discussions, she should consider using Readiness Assessment Tests to provide some external motivation. However, if an instructor’s objective is for students to learn the material in any way possible, and/or there isn’t time enough to score student responses every class period, he might consider weekly quizzes as an alternative." The call for proposals has been issued for the 2012 Southwest Teaching & Learning Conference to be held March 30 and 31, 2012 in San Antonio. They are looking for proposals from any field including but not limited to: business, education, arts and sciences, as well as technical and vocational programs. While the primary emphasis is on college and university teaching and learning, they welcome proposals from all scholars. The conference aims to facilitate a discussion of the particular issues associated with educating traditionally under-served student populations. This year’s focus is on technology in the classroom to enhance the teaching and learning process.

Just finished reading a really interesting article by Chip Heath and Dan Heath entitled "Teaching that Sticks." It is based on their book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. The Heath brothers have identified the six traits that they feel make an idea sticky and they include: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and story. The Heath's say, "As a teacher, you are on the front lines of stickiness. Every single day, you've got to wake up in the morning and go make ideas stick. And let's face it, this is no easy mission. Few students burst into the classroom, giddy with anticipation, ready for the latest lesson on punctuation, polynomials, or pilgrims." The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) has just released a full report called "Making Student Learning Evidence Transparent: The State of the Art." The report focuses on identifying best practices when it comes to institutions reporting their assessment data. Case Western Reserve University lists a fact of the day drawn from their institutional assessment data. One of the findings of NILOA is that institutions post assessment information more frequently than many would likely have guessed but the information is often hidden or not presented effectively. The Sustainability Across the Curriculum Faculty Learning Community (FLC) met on Monday to set their academic year outcome goals. Look for a survey in your email box soon as this FLC is very interested in learning what is currently occurring in the sustainability arena at LU. If you would like to get involved with this FLC contact facilitator Tony Pereira or co-facilitator Matt Hoch. "We do think we and the institutions have a public responsibility to stand behind the quality of education we provide our graduates, beyond just 120 credit hours and a 3.0 [grade point average]," said Ralph S. Wolff. "The big thing here we're trying to shift is from just ensuring that institutions are engaging in the process of assessment, to being about what the results are and what they mean. And are they good enough for us?" Wolff's comments came in a story about the Western Association of Colleges and Schools attempt to ratchet up their accreditation requirements. This fall Stanford University took a step forward in the open-education movement by offering three free online courses, following in the footsteps of several other elite colleges like Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The three classes being offered—”Machine Learning,” “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence,” and “Introduction to Databases“—are among some of the university’s most popular computer-science courses. Enrollment figures for the courses seemingly back up this claim: Andrew Ng, the professor for the machine-learning course, has approximately 94,000 students enrolled in his class alone. Students in the class includes high schoolers, grandmothers, and soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. “Teaching tens of thousands of students at a time is a very gratifying experience,” he said.

Personal narrative plays an important role in Mike Garver’s teaching style. Garver, a professor of marketing at Central Michigan University, often uses anecdotes from his own life in his lectures. Now, with the arrival of technology that allows him to easily record his lectures at home, slice them into easily digestible morsels, and make them available for students to watch online prior to class meetings, he uses those personal anecdotes to move his teaching to the higher levels of learning described by Bloom's Taxonomy. “I kind of gave up lecturing in the classroom,” Garver says, adding that he was tired of having to choose between introducing ideas and letting students try putting them into practice. “There was never enough time for both,” he says. As you know, we are a big proponent of Ken Bain's book What the Best College Teachers Do. Bain also offers an annual seminar called the Best Teachers Summer Institute. There are still a few slots available according to an email we received earlier this week. The High School to College Transition Faculty Learning Community met earlier this week for the first time. FLC Facilitator Tanya Goldbeck reports that they are planning to conduct a inventory to document what types of interventions are already in place that help incoming students make the transition. The Creating an Online Course of Substance FLC will meet today at 3:30 PM in 621 MJGL. Contact facilitator Nancy Blume or co-facilitator Cheng-Hsien Lin for more information. We are still receiving positive feedback on the recent visit by Diane Halpern, Over 94 percent of the workshop participants found the sessions to be very helpful or helpful. The same percentage found that the speaker was very informative or informative. Many of the participants noted their appreciation for the handout "25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments." If you would like your very own copy, contact a member of CT+LE. One of our favorite principles is spaced effects. Spaced schedules of testing produce better long-term retention than a single test. Teachers should give frequent tests so that the high scores on tests that are immediately given after learning can be maintained over time. Spaced effects is based on research by Bahrick, Bahrick, Bahrick, and Bahrick (1993), Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, and Rohrer (2006), and Cull (2000).

The room was buzzing on November 10 as Dr. Diane Halpern presented an interactive session "Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking: Helping College Students Become Better Thinkers." Halpern delivered a powerful session based on her career-long research on critical thinking. Her thesis for the session was "the best education for life in the 21st century must be built on the twin pillars of learning how to learn and how to think critically about the vast array of information that confronts us." Nancy Adams (educational leadership) said that she plans to use probing question strategies in her classroom to enhance her student's learning. Weihang Zhu (industrial engineering) plans to design some instruction methods to encourage critical thinking. Martha Rinker (psychology) plans to use the worksheet approach that Halpern described during the session. Randy Yoder (biology) appreciated the various approaches demonstrated by Halpern on how critical thinking skills can be taught. The discussion continues today at 3:00 PM in 622 MJGL. Halpern Sessions Revisited will be an opportunity for those who attended the session and those who were not able, to come together, share notes, and discuss teaching strategies designed to improve critical thinking in all LU students. CT+LE will provide handouts from the Halpern sessions.

"Real-life problems are messy. Sometimes there are multiple goals, and sometimes we'll return to this question several times, as our understanding of the goal will often change after we've worked on it for a while. A clearly articulated goal will provide direction to the thinking process and allow you to make better decisions about the skills you will need to use. In the course of thinking about real-world problems, you may need to change direction and redefine the problem and the desired outcome several times, but it's still important to have an outcome in mind to provide some focus. After all, if you don't know where you're going, you can never be sure if you've arrived," says Dr. Diane Halpern who will be in Beaumont on Thursday and Friday of this week. She will deliver two powerful sessions filled with the latest scholarship on critical thinking and cognitive learning. You still have time to register for either session. Welcome packets for students at Western Governors University now include a free Webcam, part of an extensive monitoring program used by the online university to make sure test-takers are who they say they are. At Western Governors, the average student is 36 years old, has a family, and takes a full course load on top of holding a full-time job. Because it’s convenient for them to be able to take tests from home, students have embraced the technology, says Janet W. Schnitz, associate provost for assessment and interim provost at the university. The university, which first started handing out cameras in July 2010, now has over 30,000 Web cams in use. Of American students at the top programs, Eric Schwitzgebel, a professor of philosophy at the University of California at Riverside, found that 29 percent came from just eight universities (the U.S. News & World Report top 10, minus the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), another 18 percent came from other universities in the magazine's top 25, and another 11 percent from elsewhere in the top 50. With another large group coming from leading liberal arts colleges, the analysis found that only 19 percent came from the 3,000-plus colleges and universities that don't sit on the top of anyone's rankings. Schwitzgebel's research focused on philosophy, but at least one other study has found a similar clustering in the students who enroll in graduate programs in history -- programs that are generally much larger than those in philosophy. Robert B. Townsend of the American Historical Association published a study in 2005 in which he found that about 100 generally elite undergraduate institutions produced the students who make up 55 percent of the graduate enrollments in Ph.D. programs. The history study found that the share of Ph.D. enrollment from those undergraduate institutions had been a bit lower during the 1980s, but increased again during the 1990s. As we move forward with our Quality Enhancement Plan, it is important to redesign our courses using active learning methods. The modification of traditional lectures is one way to incorporate active learning in the classroom. Research has demonstrated, for example, that if a faculty member allows students to consolidate their notes by pausing three times for two minutes each during a lecture, students will learn significantly more information (Ruhl, Hughes, and Schloss 1987). Two other simple yet effective ways to involve students during a lecture are to insert brief demonstrations or short, ungraded writing exercises followed by class discussion. Certain alternatives to the lecture format further increase student level of engagement: (1) the feedback lecture, which consists of two mini-lectures separated by a small-group study session built around a study guide, and (2) the guided lecture, in which students listen to a 20- to 30-minute presentation without taking notes, followed by their writing for five minutes what they remember and spending the remainder of the class period in small groups clarifying and elaborating the material.

It is always nice to be validated. As many of you know, CT+LE frequently reminds you to constantly take the pulse of your class. That means at the minimum you should do a mid-semester teaching evaluation and then read it and actually make adjustments based on your findings. Typically faculty who adhere to that process receive higher teaching evaluations at the end of the semester. Students appreciate faculty who care enough to listen and revise the course delivery to enhance their learning. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ran an article saying essentially the same thing. There is still time to register for either of the two sessions planned for November 10 and 11. As you know, Dr. Diane Halpern will be visiting LU as part of the ongoing faculty development series. This past Wednesday and Thursday, LU sent a team that included Edythe Kirk, Charlotte Mizener, Brenda Nichols, Paula Nichols, and Todd Pourciau to the Reinventing Instruction and Learning Conference hosted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in Austin. The team was able to divide and conquer allowing us to attend almost every session. The plan is to meet soon and debrief. The results will be shared in this space so stay tuned. The Active Research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Faculty Learning Community (FLC) is holding its first meeting on Monday, November 7 at 3:00 PM. The FLC will meet at Ana's Mexican Bakery on Calder in the newly remodeled patio. If you are planning to get involved with this FLC, this is a can't miss meeting as they are setting the agenda for the remainder of the academic year. Contact Vanessa Villate or Chiung-Fang Chang for more information. In addition, the High School to College Transition FLC will be meeting on Monday, November 14 at 1:30 PM in 621 MJGL. Again, now is the final time to commit to this FLC by attending the meeting or contacting Tanya Goldbeck or Paul Hemenway. One of our readers shared a very interesting story that resonated because of the similarities between the featured institution and LU. The article, which appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, says, "Stretched thin by a mile-wide mission and an equally broad pool of students, Cleveland State is, like many similar institutions, stuck in the mushy middle of higher education. For decades, such universities have been reaching for higher education's brass ring: a bigger share of research grants and accompanying prestige. Now many regional public colleges are trying to balance their aspirations with reality, focusing on the economic and educational needs of their regions rather than striving to compete nationally."

Numerous studies in the last few decades have examined how physical and biological scientists make discoveries and face challenges in their labs. A new collection of essays and original research -- Social Knowledge in the Making (University of Chicago Press) -- applies this sort of analysis to the social sciences, exploring the process of creation in very different disciplines. Chapters in the volume cover such topics as peer review, academic conferences, interdisciplinary work and institutional review boards. The Faculty Learning Communities are entering the start-up phase. The leadership teams have been empowered and the communities will begin to meet very soon. There is still a small window of opportunity to participate this academic year. Contact the facilitator or co-facilitator of the FLC you are interested in joining now. Micheal Winerip wrote a very interesting article about the topic of college readiness. He highlights a new program implemented by the community college system in New York City that focuses on improving the math, reading and writing abilities of their freshmen. The intense semester long program called START has proven to be effective. A recent article in the Austin Statesman notes that University of Texas researchers have found that about 70 percent of new public high school principals in Texas leave their jobs within the first five years. Only about half of new principals stay on the job at least three years, education researchers found. And principals in high-poverty schools are leaving the soonest. Everyone should be familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy. What you may not be as familiar with is Dee Fink's taxonomy that can be used specifically to redesign a course. Carolyn Fallahi, Laura Levine, Joan Nicoll-Senft, Jack Tessier, Cheryl Watson, and Rebecca Wood have written a terrific article describing how a course redesign project turned into a writing group and has continued to provide new opportunities for its participants. They write, "We now always begin our course design by asking three questions: What do we want students to retain from this course? How can we make this learning personal for the student? and How can we make this a human experience that will make them care about the material?"

The initial notice on Diane Halpern's visit on November 10 and 11 has certainly created a sensation. Registration is brisk but there is room for more. If you would like to attend her interactive sessions, register now. She will provide ideas and suggestions that can be used to improve the learning environment in your classroom and you will earn valuable points for the Faculty Development Program. The field of cognitive science has exploded during the last two decades. The connection between the brain and how we learn is constantly evolving. We have learned many things and still have a long way to go. What has emerged is that lecture and testing for recall does not provide the best opportunity for students to learn. As we continue to implement our Quality Enhancement Plan, especially in the core courses (although it is hoped that everyone will adopt the new methods), CT+LE stands ready to help you with course redesign. Ken Bain, in his book What the Best College Teachers Do, writes, "Part of being a good teacher (not all) is knowing that you always have something new to learn...and that there is no single "best way" to teach." We have recommended the book many times and the ACES Fellows are reading it as part of their year-long experience. It is available at the MJGL for those who are looking for a quick (178 pages) read that is guaranteed to improve your teaching. John Lombardi wrote an op-ed piece for his blog about some of our favorite people--librarians. He writes, "Some believe the search engine is the new daemon of relevance and selection, capable of sorting the important from the ephemeral, but our librarians know that search without purpose or criteria produces more chaff than wheat. We can Google for a zillion hits in seconds, but as our librarians remind us, most of those results are irrelevant or worse, plain wrong." In a different vein, if you are looking for a little levity, check out Gina Barreca's op-ed piece on student's propensity to divulge too much information when they are trying to explain their inability to finish required work on time. She writes, "Please, dear student, resist the urge to tell me that you might be late to class because your fraternity or sorority has a 'really, really big meeting.' That is so entirely none of my business, I cannot even begin to explain to you how bizarre it seems that you should think I’d answer with anything but '???'”

By now you may have heard that President Simmons has requested that a Freshman Seminar Course (FSC) be implemented at LU by the fall of 2012. The FSC Implementation Committee met for the first time on Friday and quickly organized into five sub-committees: curriculum design and structure; marketing, advertising, and web presence; open house, orientation, and recruitment; assessment; and campus relations. The Implementation Committee of twenty-two members, led by Dr. Oney Fitzpatrick, is committed to creating a freshmen year course that provides student with the skills that will increase their satisfaction with the college experience while improving our retention and graduation rates. As we know, the attrition issue is everyone's responsibility at LU and the Implementation Committee is looking for assistance from anyone who is interested in student success. We will continue to update you on the progress of this initiative. Please save the dates of November 10 and 11 for the visit of Dr. Diane Halpern. She will deliver two interactive workshops designed to help you move to the next level as an instructor. Her critical thinking session will prepare you for the new requirements of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board requiring assessment of this essential skill. In addition, Dr. Halpern will deliver a session on the science of learning designed to solidify the link between you and your students. Now that we are in week nine of your learner-centered class, your students should be able to understand the facts and principles and interpret the material as well as be able to solve problems and apply concepts and principles to new situations. They should also be able to recognize unstated assumptions or logical fallacies and have the ability to distinguish between facts and inferences. They should be able to integrate learning from different areas and solve problems by creative and critical thinking and their judgement and assessment skills should be well developed. The preceding statements are built using Bloom's Taxonomy. Your learning outcomes should be very similar to these statements infused with your disciplinary expectations. Do your students constantly prod you to reveal your political ideology? Do they say that you are biased? Billie Hara wrote an interesting op-ed piece on this topic for Inside Higher Ed that we encourage you to read.

Should students be allowed back in class after they have been kicked out for disruptive behavior pending a hearing? That is the question Dean Dad asks in his blog today. He says, "Learning to manage difficult students is part of teaching. But some students are really far beyond what a reasonable person should have to deal with, even if they aren’t technically criminal. They need to be removed if the class is going to work." The call for proposals for the 2011 Social Media Conference at Tarleton State is now available. The conference will occur on December 2 and the proposals are due by October 14. The event is being coordinated by the Texas Social Media Research Institute. The next opportunity to join the LU journaling group is October 24. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher seminar will be held at 3:00 PM in room 622 MJGL. You can indicate your attendance now by contacting CT+LE or calling 8426. One of the main reasons that millennial students are dropping out of college is related to economic factors. Many say that the lack of need-based financial support leads them to take a break from college in order to work and build up their reserves. Stephen DesJardins and Brian McCall have written an interesting article, Stimulating the Effects of Financial Aid Packages on College Student Stopout, Reenrollment Spells, and Graduation Chances, which appeared in the Review of Higher Education in the summer of 2010. DesJardins and McCall discovered that students "who experience a stopout are more likely to experience subsequent spells of non-enrollment and that this pattern of enrollment behavior is very detrimental to a student's chances of graduation." They suggest that institutions should consider strategies that reduce stopouts to increase their graduation rates. If you are still interested in joining a FLC for AY 2011-12, you should contact the CT+LE now. Take a look at the four FLC and see if you are interested in becoming a member of what promises to be a very exciting and stimulating experience.

The next step in the Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) process is training for the leadership teams of each group. That is scheduled to occur next week. After that, each group will gather to discuss its goals and outcomes. We will be creating a webpage for each FLC on the CT+LE main site. It will include the leadership and membership of each FLC as well as ongoing activities, meetings, and other relevant information. If you have not joined a FLC but would like to do so, the opportunity is still open. Simply contact the CT+LE and we will make sure you are included. The four FLC for Academic Year 2011-12 are Active Research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Creating an Online Course of Substance, High School to College Transition, and Sustainability Across the Curriculum. RosEvaluation Conference 2012 has released their call for proposals. This year's conference, Assessment for Program and Institutional Accreditation, will be held April 1-3, 2012 in Terre Haute, Indiana. The conference emphasizes concrete, effective and efficient solutions to assessment and evaluation challenges. There is still time to register for the free webinar being offered by the University of North Texas, Effective Teaching-How to Know it When You See it! The webinar will start at 1:00 PM on Friday, October 14. Now that we are in the seventh week of classes at LU, have you taken the time to gauge the climate of your classroom? Most scientists would recommend you use the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) developed by R, H. Moos. You can learn more about it from a terrific article from the Journal of College Student Development, volume 35. It is not available online but the MJGL does have the hard copy of the journal. While you are there, come on up to the sixth floor of MJGL and visit us in CT+LE. The word of the week is polymath and here is the word used in a sentence. Our faculty at LU is made up of many polymaths, working in all kinds of creative and scientific fields.

Do you know how to transform your students into self-regulated learners? If not, I encourage you to attend the Lunch+Learn on October 5 at noon in the Dining Hall's private dining room. If you do know, we want you to come as well and share your experiences with the rest of us. Did you know that student peer assessment allows students to get more varied, immediate and frequent feedback, feel their input is valued, helps to build critical thinking skills and usually produces better student work? Come and discuss the techniques you can use to teach your students about self-assessment at the Lunch+Learn on Wednesday. For those of you who are participating in the LU journaling program, remember that we will be holding our monthly discussion group on Thursday, October 6 at 2:00 PM in 621 MJGL. Critical self reflection helps you to achieve results especially when you share your results. Allie Grasgreen wrote an interesting story about the sophomore slump and what some institutions are doing to curtail its effect. Students reported poor or undeveloped peer-to-peer relationships as one of the biggest reasons for withdrawing in a survey taken at Pace University. We are putting the final pieces in place for the Faculty Learning Communities for Academic Year 2011-12. The next step is to hold training for the leadership. After that, the FLC will begin to meet and set goals for the year. Get ready for the community of scholars at LU to become energized.

Linda Nilson has come and gone but the effects of her visit will continue to ignite conversations across the LU campus for a while. She brought research-backed knowledge to her sessions. She was engaging and modeled active learning methods throughout the two days of workshops. The faculty in attendance were learning and it was quite evident from the conversations, some of which had to be stopped in the interest of time. But fear not, we will continue the discussions at the follow-up Lunch+Learn set for Wednesday, October 5 at noon in the private dining room of the Dining Hall. We are requesting that those who participated in any of Dr. Nilson's three sessions come armed with their notes and memories. If you were unable to attend, we want you to participate as well. We will have copies of the handouts from the sessions, which along with the conversation, will allow you to fully participate in the discussion. The room will open at 11:30 AM so that you can grab lunch and then join the discussion beginning at noon. Educational Leadership faculty member Nancy Adams, who attended the Top Ten session, said, "Nilson offered good, concrete strategies that can be immediately transferred in the classroom." Finance and Economics faculty member Karyn Newhauser, who attended the Student Peer and Self-Assessment session, said, "The peer review forms [provided by Nilson] that provide information to the writer and are non-threatening to the reviewer is something I will implement." English and Modern Languages faculty member and ACES Fellow Julie Wilhelm felt that Nilson delivered a "very specific, practical presentation that showed me how to implement the scholarship." Kami Makki (Computer Science) and Weihang Zhu (Industrial Engineering) both liked Nilson's idea of having students write a letter to future students about the class they have just completed. ACES Fellow Jeremy Shelton (Psychology), "liked that [Nilson] gave us many references so that we can further explore and implement these ideas later." As we dropped Dr. Nilson at the airport, she commented on how much she enjoyed visiting LU and was impressed with the level of engagement at each session. Next Tuesday (October 4) you have the opportunity to learn a little more about our accrediting organization commonly known as SACS. Register now for the free webinar "Do You Know What SACS Accreditors Really Expect in Assessment?" Provost Steve Doblin thinks it is important that we all understand how the process works and encourages participation as well. Richard M. Felder and Rebecca Brent extol the virtues of student-centered instruction (SCI) in their article Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction. SCI is a broad approach that includes such techniques as substituting active learning experiences for lectures, holding students responsible for material that has not been explicitly discussed in class, assigning open-ended problems and problems requiring critical or creative thinking that cannot be solved by following text examples, involving students in simulations and role-plays, assigning a variety of unconventional writing exercises, and using self-paced and/or cooperative (team-based) learning.They conclude that "instructors who set out to try student-centered instruction in a class for the first time are often unpleasantly surprised by the fierce negativity of some responses. Many who don't anticipate such reactions get discouraged when they encounter them, give up, and go back to more comfortable but less effective methods.To minimize resistance to any student-centered method, try to persuade the students from the outset that you are neither playing a game nor performing an experiment, but teaching in a way known to help students learn more and understand better."

As we begin the sixth week of class at LU, now is a good time to reflect on how effective you are being as an instructor. By now you should have a firm grasp of how well your students are learning the material. You should have done a number of formative assessments (including at least one, low-stakes, non-graded activity) and know each of your students by name. You should have provided your students with multiple opportunities to network within the classroom and you should be aware of their goals in life. Your students should be aware of what is expected of them, what the learning outcomes are, and notice the clear alignment of the learning experiences with the outcomes. While this might be the ideal, research proves that the situation described above does indeed provide the best scenario for success both in teaching and learning. If you are looking for some insight into how you can enhance your classroom performance, this is a perfect week. Dr. Linda Nilson will visit LU on Tuesday and Wednesday. She will deliver three powerful workshops that will provide you with valuable insight that you can implement immediately. Continuous critical reflection is very effective when used to change habits or identify trigger points that create impediments to reaching your benchmarks. Taking the time to attend any of the workshops will pay big dividends for you in the future. We encourage you to come,even if you can only attend part of the session. CT+LE is excited to announce that we have added some valuable resources specifically for our department chairs and those who are thinking of pursuing a leadership position in the future. On Thursday, September 28 at 10:30 AM, you have the opportunity to participate in a webinar entitled "A Quick and Practical Guide to Managing Your Time and Stress." We will be hosting the online webinar in room 622 MJGL. To register, send an email to Todd Pourciau (todd.pourciau@lamar.edu) or call CT+LE at 8426. Did you know that you have access to an course rubric that allows you to compare your online or hybrid course to some of the best in the world? By using the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program rubric, you can evaluate how well your own course conforms to best practices for course design, interaction and collaboration, assessment and learner support. The rubric details a range of criteria to rate performance in each component of your course and you receive detailed feedback. There are also examples of exemplary courses. Did you hear that LU has reached another enrollment milestone? We have 14,552 students enrolled in 141,748 credit hours this semester. That is a lot of teaching and learning and we are committed to seeing each one of them graduate and become citizens who not only contribute but change the world.

We have tallied the enrollment requests for the Faculty Learning Communities and there are four still standing. These four FLC will move forward and meet throughout the Academic Year 2011-12. At the end of the year, each of the four FLC will present their results at an expo event. If you are interested in becoming a member of one of the four FLC, contact a staff member of CT+LE immediately. We will also be holding training for the facilitators and co-facilitators very soon. The four FLC for 2011-12 are: Active Research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: FLC focused on the research, scholarship and discovery about teaching and learning (topic-based); Creating an Online Course of Substance: FLC focused on the design of online or hybrid classes that utilize technology at or above 50% of the class time. Exploration of pedagogy and curriculum designed for this teaching forum including active learning methods. Participants will work on their targeted courses as part of a community of scholars (tb); High School to College Transition: FLC focused on the first year experience, specifically how to assist students making the transition from a “standardized test” culture to one that values critical thinking, empirical/quantitative methods, communication skills, team work, and personal and social responsibility. Some emphasis will be placed on introducing active learning methods to incoming freshmen (tb); Sustainability Across the Curriculum: FLC focused on infusing sustainability issues into an existing course or designing a new course or curriculum to focus on those issues. Participants will work on their targeted courses as part of a community of scholars. This program could be designed to expand the inventory of classes at LU that focus on sustainability as a lens through which students will examine and act upon our shared world systems, including but not limited to energy, environment, food systems, economic justice, and globalization (tb). Have you registered for one of Dr. Linda Nilson's three workshops yet? She will visit LU on September 27 and 28. Sad to see that the average SAT scores have dropped again. The reading score for the high school class of 2011 fell three points to 497, the lowest on record, according to a report by the College Board, which administers the exams.The average writing score dropped two points, to 489, and the math score was down one point, to 514. Each of the three SAT sections is scored from 200 to 800, with 2,400 the highest possible combined score. This year’s combined average was 1,500, down from 1,506 last year. Research shows that student's scores in reading and writing are intimately linked with the size of their vocabulary. It prompted us to add a new feature to the CT+LE blog. We will attempt to broaden the vocabulary of LU by using unique or rarely used words and encourage you to use them in your classes. If it sends someone to a dictionary, even better. Here is today's word used in a sentence. Let us know what you think. The excessive amount of dross in the quad today was very unsettling.

Are you struggling with remembering your student's names? In his 1993 book, What Matters in College, Alexander Austin reviewed the literature on college teaching, finding two things that made the biggest difference in getting students involved in the undergraduate experience: greater faculty-student interaction and greater student-student interaction. Though learning students names may seem a trivial matter in the entire university enterprise, it is a powerful means to foster both of these interactions. As teachers, some of us find it easy to learn names, while others have to work at it.Here are a few suggestions to help you. Liz Miller at Texas A&M suggests having the students prepare a “passport” for your class. This is an exercise in creativity and an opportunity for you to get to know about the student as well as their name. Using an old note card, have the student make a passport or document that describes them. The passport should include a personal picture (a snapshot is okay), some information about their likes and dislikes, and something about where they have been and where they are going. Linda Nilson, Clemson University, has her students wear name tags (first name only, printed very large) for the first two weeks. After class, she also reviews the index cards that she has students fill out with personal information on the first day of class. Unforgettable Neighbor is a technique suggested by Ed Nuhfer of the University of Colorado at Denver. He suggest that you have students turn to their neighbor and introduce themselves. The assignment is for the neighbor to introduce their companion “with a trait that no one can forget.” Obviously the partners have to be helpful with a trait or mnemonic aid. Pick randomly from around the room for introductions. After a third person is introduced, point at those introduced and the class has to name the individual. Continue with the introductions and cumulative reviews. he notes that the repetition in reviews really helps. You can register now for the upcoming free webinar Effective Teaching - How to Know it When You See it! Three Components of Effective Teaching. Join Nancy Fire, Ed.D. and Mike Simmons, Ph.D. from the University of North Texas and learn twelve proven items that mark an effective teacher. This webinar will be complete with strong take-aways and examples to begin implementing in your classroom right away. Wanted to remind you that our Quality Enhancement Plan was created to encourage the use of active learning methods to stimulate enhanced learning in our classrooms. Although the QEP focuses on core and developmental courses, all faculty at LU are invited to participate and the evidence indicates that the community of scholars is embracing that challenge. Active learning involves providing opportunities for students to meaningfully talk and listen, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an academic subject. You should use active learning principles to develop activities for your students that best reflect both your own teaching style and the material, types of thinking, and approaches to the subject necessary to comprehend and apply the topic. Doing so will make you an active teacher, and you will cross beyond the essential, but incomplete, role of content expert. Content expertise and active teaching will provide students the opportunities to become engaged learners and dynamic thinkers.

There is nothing more exciting to a faculty developer than seeing the community of scholars gather to share ideas and concerns. That is exactly what happened yesterday during the Faculty Learning Communities Expo. It was terrific watching the advocates (Mark Asteris, Nancy Blume, Jessica Dandona, Carmen Doering, Paul Hemenway, Melissa Hudler, Komal Karani, Tom Matthews, Tony Pereira, Michael Saar, Yasulo Sato, Jeremy Shelton, Kaye Shelton, Randy Smith, Vaness Villate, and Steve Zani) talking with potential members about the various FLC. The strategies included using logic, passion and some good old-fashioned arm twisting. In the end, we are very close to announcing our top four FLC for the 2011-12 Academic Year. If you have not returned your FLC enrollment form, scan and email it to todd.pourciau@lamar.edu, mail it to P.O. Box 10302 or hand deliver it to room 618 Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL) no later than Friday, September 16. Stay tuned for the big announcement coming soon. There is still time to register for the free faculty development webinar Avoiding a Mid-Career Crisis: Helping Faculty Manage Their Careers to be held on September 20 at 1:00 PM. The webinar will focus on navigating the path to tenure and what happens next. As we move forward on the Retention Ad-hoc Committee, it is exciting to watch the enrollment management efforts begin to crystallize. Research has shown that students will persist at a college if there is a high level of congruence between the student’s values, goals, and attitudes and those of the college. The admissions process and materials can be a key factor in developing students’ expectations of the institution and in their adjustment to college environments. The renewed efforts towards retention, starting with President Jimmy Simmons and Provost Steve Doblin, involves integrating all of the necessary pieces aligned with a commitment from our students. Positive results are just around the bend. The Student Homecoming Committee has planned a Midnight Breakfast for Wednesday, October 19 from 11 PM to 1 AM. They are currently asking for faculty and staff to volunteer as servers. It is a great opportunity to interact with your students. If you are interested, complete this form. Each volunteer will receive a free homecoming shirt. Go Big Red!

The FLC Expo occurs tomorrow from 11:30 AM until 4:30 PM in rooms 621 and 622 Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL). Come and talk with advocates to determine which FLC you would like to join for the 2011-12 academic year. If you have made your choice, remember to complete the FLC enrollment form and return it to CT+LE at PO Box 10302 or have it delivered to room 617 MJGL. Registration is also open for the workshops to be delivered by Dr. Linda Nilson on September 27 and 28. Dr. Nilson has spent over 22 years intimately involved in faculty development and her book, Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, is a best-seller filled with hundreds of practical teaching techniques, formats, classroom activities, and exercises. Online learning is the sole form of collegiate access for an increasing number of students according to a recent post by Eric Stoller. He proposes, "having a strategic student affairs communications plan will be a vital component to supporting online learners." Have you read about the new approach to student retention being attempted by a number of colleges that asks each student, faculty and president to sign a commitment form. The pledge focuses on increasing the completion rate for all students. “It’s kind of dreadful that we’ve never taken the time to explain to [students] that completion matters,” said Rod Risley, executive director of Phi Theta Kappa. “I have to sit sometimes and just think, why did it take us so long?” As part of AASCU Academic Leadership webinar series EDUCAUSE President, Diana Oblinger, will be offering a free presentation entitled “The Game Changers: Education and IT” on Monday September 19, 2011. Diana is an immensely knowledgeable and engaging presenter who has keynoted numerous meetings around this topic. She is also the national leader who helped pull together the Next Generation Learning Challenge grants which have already awarded millions of dollars in support of high quality use of learning technology in higher education. She will be joined by Dr. James L. Hilton, CIO at the University of Virginia.

The voting is open for round two of the Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) program for Academic Year 2011-12. You have whittled down the potential FLC from over 20 to nine remaining. Your voting and commitments will decide which four FLC will move forward this AY. If you are ready to make your decision, fill out the FLC enrollment form that you received via email. If you are undecided, plan to attend the FLC Expo on September 14 in rooms 621 and 622 Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL). You can come anytime between 11:30 AM and 4:30 PM and talk with an advocate for the remaining nine FLC. If you did not receive a FLC enrollment form, give us a call at 8426. Dan Apple is on campus today. His workshop this morning was terrific and he continues this afternoon through 5:00 PM in the Cardinal Club Room of the Montagne Center. The faculty who attended this morning appeared to be inspired by Dr. Apple's presentation of his process education philosophy which focuses on the development of broad, transferable learning skills. Special thanks to Dean Brenda Nichols and Exxon Mobil who made the visit possible. There is still time to register your students for the Learn to Learn workshop set for September 10 and 11 (Saturday and Sunday) by contacting Kathy Pierce in the College of Arts and Sciences. The first discussion session of the LU Journaling Program was very productive. Journalers are already benefiting from the critical reflection activity. Full commitment to the process is the key. The next discussion group session is set for October 6 at 2:00 PM in room 621 MJGL. The next opportunity to join the program will be this Friday, September 9 at 1:00 PM in 622 MJGL. Look for an email soon asking you to indicate your attendance for Dr. Linda Nilson's upcoming three workshops to be delivered on September 27 and 28.

The votes are in and the list of potential Faculty Learning Communities went from 20 to nine. We are currently recruiting advocates for each of the remaining FLC. The advocates will lobby and recruit members for the FLC at an Expo and the top four will move forward for AY 2011-12. The Expo date and time will be announced shortly. In the meantime, visit the CT+LE website and take a look at the nine FLC still in the running. You can contact one of the advocates or CT+LE staff if you have questions before the Expo. The FLC still standing include: Active Learning Unleashed, Active Research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Arts Across Lamar, Classroom Design for 21st Century Learners, Creating an Online Course of Substance, High School to College Transition, New Faculty, One Book/One Community, and Sustainability Across the Curriculum. Have you heard about Texas House Bill 33? Authored by state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas and sponsored in the upper chamber by Senate Higher Education Chairwoman Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, House Bill 33 passed, was signed by Gov. Rick Perry, and will technically take effect on September 1. Basically, the bill requires universities to provide a list of the retail price, authors, publishers and copyright date of all required and recommended texts for each course and disseminate them to students at least a month before the semester starts, allowing students time to find the best deals. You might recall in an earlier post we discussed the growth of e-textbooks. It is another good way of lowering the cost of support material for our students. Have you implemented a service learning component into your course? Sherril B. Gelmon is a professor of public health at Portland State University and this year's recipient of the Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award. She says, "Sometimes you have to push your students. They say the course is a lot of work, and I say, well, this is the real world, and these are real and difficult issues that take a lot of work to solve." If you are planning to attend the group discussion on Using Clickers in your Classroom tomorrow, you might want to take a look at this Educause article. The use of open-ended student response systems, like Clickers, is a good way to actively engage your students and provides immediate formative assessment to gauge student learning in a low-stakes environment.

As we conclude week one of the Fall semester at LU, it is a good time to do some critical reflection. Many of you are participating in the journaling program. Many of you have signed up for the next session so that you can learn about the program. Even more encouraging is that some of you are having your students journal as part of your classes. What a terrific active learning method. It will be one of the most beneficial things that you ask them to do and it will serve them well as a life-skill should they choose to make it a habit. The votes are still pouring in for the Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) proposals. We are accepting your ballots through August 28. Look for more information about the upcoming FLC Expo next week. Bruce Krajewski wrote a humorous piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education about the mind set of faculty to compliment the annual list released on students. See if he included any of your favorites on his list.

Dan Berrett wrote a really interesting article entitled Want to Be a Good Researcher? Try Teaching that deserves a read. Graduate students who both taught and conducted research demonstrate significantly greater improvement in their abilities to generate testable hypotheses and design valid experiments according to Dr. David F. Feldon, lead author of the study. The most significant aspect of Feldon's findings, according to Dr. Mark Connolly who is a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and heard an early presentation about the study, is that they are based on data that track the development of actual research skills instead of those that are self-reported. "They're looking at demonstrated competency," he says. "It gets away from these assumptions that teaching is inimical to research. In fact, they're complementary." The response has been fairly solid so far to the Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) email survey. Trends are already beginning to emerge but all of that could change based on the ballots yet to be returned. Faculty are reminded that CT+LE is accepting responses through August 28. The responses will be tallied and the FLC receiving the most support will be featured in an Expo to be held on August 31. More details to follow soon. The first week of class is always hectic but we want to remind you to take some time to do some critical reflection. Figuring out what works best and why takes time and you owe it to yourself to make the effort. Critical refection has been proven to reduce stress and improve student evaluations. Are you using Clickers in your classroom? If so, you might want to join a group of your colleagues who will gather on September 1 to discuss best practices. Did you notice that one of the outstanding citizens of Beaumont was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to serve on the Texas Higher Education Education Coordinating Board? Dr. David Teuscher, a partner at the Beaumont Bone and Joint Institute and team orthopedist for Lamar University's men's and women's NCAA teams, will assume the position September 1.

The Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) survey was emailed to all faculty at LU today. If you did not receive your email survey, contact CT+LE at 8426. We did have a number of you sign up to participate at the Blastoff session. In addition, a number of you have already returned your surveys. All of which indicates that this could be a very successful program launch. Remember that you have until August 28 to return your survey via email or to the CT+LE P.O. Box 10302. We will tally the votes and the top FLC will be presenting at an Expo planned for August 31. We are also currently recruiting facilitators and co-facilitators for all of the proposed FLC. Research proves that self-reflection on a sustained and consistent basis is the best way to grow and improve as a classroom teacher. Critical inquiry and reflective writing provide the best opportunities to think critically about what we do and why. LU is implementing a journaling program for AY 2011-12. If you are committed to growing as a teacher, you are encouraged to attend the Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher seminar on September 9 at 1:00 p.m. in room 622 MJGL. RSVP now by calling x8426. Participants, each of whom will receive a free journal, will learn how journaling can keep you on track to realizing personal and professional growth. In addition, those who participated in the journaling session at the Blastoff should plan to attend the first discussion session set for September 2 at noon in the Dining Hall private dining room. Are you currently using Clickers as an active learning enhancement method? Have you thought about using Clickers but wanted to know more about them? There will be a discussion group meeting on September 1 at 2:00 p.m. in room 622 MJGL for anyone currently using Clickers or inquirers. Finally, don't forget that Dr. Linda Nilson will be visiting LU on September 27 and 28 to deliver three interactive sessions.

Many thanks to the more than 100 participants at the Blastoff held Tuesday. All of the sessions proved to be popular and the feedback on the evaluations has been very useful as we look to complete the programming for the 2011-12 Academic Year. If you did not return your evaluation form, you can send it in now to CT+LE at P.O. Box 10302. We were able to capture three of the sessions on video and will have those available very soon. As we mentioned in the session that introduced the Faculty Learning Communities program, we will be sending out a survey via email next week. We are asking you to review the FLC that have been proposed so far and to select three that you think you would like to join. Once we gather the responses and tally the votes, we will hold a FLC Expo on August 31 at CT+LE in 621 and 622 Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL). We are currently accepting proposals for FLC and would be happy to talk with you about the opportunity to facilitate or co-facilitate a FLC. Some of the most positive comments we have received about Blastoff sessions have been directed at the ACES Fellows presentations. Dr. Jeremy Shelton and Cecil Johnson, ACES Fellow Alums, shared their experiences about their course redesign projects. Cohort 3 continues to prepare for their own journey as Fellows and the ideas we have seen for their course redesign are absolutely astounding. Our students are in for some cutting edge teaching and learning if they have enrolled in one of the ACES Fellows classes. The LU journaling project continues to gather steam. We had a good number of folks who signed up to participate at the Blastoff session. We will be holding more information sessions very soon as well as scheduling discussion meetings. The Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making (JCEDM), an official publication of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, is currently soliciting for research articles. JCEDM examines how people engage in cognitive work in real-world settings and how that work can be supported through the design of technologies, operating concepts and operating procedures, decision-making strategies, teams and organizations, and training protocols. Thus, the journal publishes rigorous approaches to the observation, modeling, analysis, and design of complex work domains in which human expertise is paramount and multiple aspects of the work environment may drive performance.

The Blastoff begins tomorrow morning at 8:30 with registration and continental breakfast. All of the sessions (faculty and department chair) are being held in the Galloway Building. Spent some time this morning with five of the newest members of our faculty. Talking with them before the orientation session started, I found them to be very enthusiastic. LU is indeed lucky to have them and I hope they find our campus as welcoming as I did just over a year ago. For those of you have have spent your summer away from Beaumont and the LU campus, I want to invite you over for a visit to the CT+LE. We are settled into our new space on the sixth floor of the Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL). Come by for a tour and free coffee. While you are here, check out the recommended reading selections on the faculty development bookshelves located adjacent to the CT+LE. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a very interesting collection of articles centered on the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. Sensing that many of you will use this event as a teaching opportunity in your course this fall, we recommend that you take a look at what a number of influential thinkers had to say about the upcoming memorial. Echoing the theme of retention mentioned in President Jimmy Simmons Convocation remarks this morning, Yorke and Thomas in their article Improving the Retention of Students from Lower Socio-economic Groups note that among other things, retention can be improved by: an emphasis on formative assessment in the early phase of programs; a recognition of the importance of the social dimension in learning activities; and recognition that the pattern of students’ engagement in higher education was changing, and a preparedness to respond positively to this in various ways; and, above all, a deep commitment running through the institution, which seeks to maximise the success of its students.

Did you know that eighty percent of all decisions at a university are made at the department level (Sarros, et. al., 1999)? That is why leadership from the chairperson is so crucial. New to the Blastoff for 2011 is a track of sessions just for department chairs. All the basics are covered including budget (10:00 a.m.) and institutional effectiveness (11:00 a.m.) with a special session on leadership from Dr. Vicky Farrow, who held the department chair position until May and will share her personal insights at the 9:00 a.m. session in 138 Galloway Hall. It all begins with registration and continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in Galloway. Along with the twelve sessions offered for faculty development, the Blastoff is the largest event of this kind ever held at LU and promises to be outstanding. Make plans now to attend. By the way, if you have been struggling with how to improve the delivery of electronic resources for your classes via Blackboard, take a look at the three sessions planned for the Blastoff. These sessions, delivered by the outstanding staff in our Center for Distance Education, will be packed with valuable information to make your teaching more efficient. We received a few new topics for potential Faculty Learning Communities but are still accepting suggestions. If you have an idea, send them to us at the CT+LE today. We have noticed that a few of you have ventured up to the sixth floor of the Mary and John Gray Library (MJGL) to take a look at the new quarters for the CT+LE or to peruse the special bookshelves containing our recommended books on various faculty development issues. We hope to see more of you as the fall semester moves into full swing. Peter Eubanks has written an interesting op-ed piece on grade inflation for Inside Higher Ed. He notes that "while institutions are increasingly taking measures to combat grade inflation, there are several key pressures faculty members face when assigning grades, and these may cause us to feel uneasy or hesitant about immediately subscribing to a strict regimen of grade deflation." Interestingly enough, Jeffrey R. Young with the Chronicle of Higher Education, also has a story about grade inflation that involves the Western Governors University.

The original posters advertising the Active and Collaborative Engagement for Students (ACES) program are still up all over our campus. This program was created to be the Quality Enhancement Plan, a requirement of SACS that all institutions must implement in the current accreditation process. You have also seen the words active learning used countless times by now. If you are still wondering what all of this means, we invite you to attend one or both sessions to be given by ACES Fellow alums at the Faculty Development Fall 2011 Blastoff on August 16. Dr. Jeremy Shelton (2010-11) and Cecil Johnson (2009-10) will each have a session describing the lessons they learned during their year-long course redesign project. These are just two of the 12 sessions planned for the Blastoff. Look for an email in your box this week about more sessions including times and rooms. It all begins at 8:30 a.m. in Galloway. Did you know that Lamar University participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) along with hundreds of other colleges and universities across the U.S.? NSSE measures student opinion on a number of benchmarks. The CT+LE staff are currently in discussion with several faculty about the creation of a new program that will promote continual improvement in our students' cognitive and personal development. The program will provide a unique opportunity for faculty and students to come together in an informal setting to discuss current issues impacting the world. The program, if successful, will address several key NSSE benchmarks including: the degree to which our students work collaboratively with their peers inside and outside of class, the frequency with which our students interact with faculty members and advisers and discuss their ideas with faculty members outside of class, the frequency with which our students interact with those of different racial or ethnic backgrounds and assist those of different ethnicities in coping with nonacademic responsibilities and issues, the rate of opportunity for our students to interact with fellow students of differing values or political opinions, and the degree to which our students promote supportive student-to-student, student-to-faculty, and student-to-administration relations. If you are interested in participating on the steering committee or want more information, contact us at CT+LE.

David F. Feldon in his article Why Magic Bullets Don't Work (Change 2010) encourages us to "let our students in on the secret once we have figured out what content needs to be taught." He notes that students "sincerely appreciate knowing up front what they will be learning, what is expected of them, how they will be assessed, and how all of these elements fit together." Sharing this, he explains, prevents them from "extraneous effort." Steven J. Bell writes in an op-ed piece that many professors are perplexed by their students’ entitlement complex. To their way of thinking, say the faculty, students see themselves as customers who deserve being treated as “always right” no matter how wrong, rude, inconsiderate, or otherwise bizarre they behave. Bell suggest that "faculty members should try designing an actual experience for their students, modeled on the principles and qualities of iconic user experiences." In case you missed it, The Chronicle of Higher Education published a story about recent legislation passed by our Texas legislators that applies to the time it takes students to graduate. Legislation signed into law this year will require all students to file degree plans after completing 45 semester hours of courses. Students who were tempted to wait out the recession by dabbling in a few more courses will have to convince advisers that all of the classes they're enrolling in count toward their degrees. The new law, House Bill 3025, will also allow transfer students to receive credentials retroactively when the credits they earn at an upper-level college complete the requirements for an associate degree they started at a junior college.

Blastoff occurs on August 16 at 8:30 a.m. and the countdown has begun. All sessions will be held in the Galloway Building. The folks at the Center for Distance Education will be presenting three sessions on Blackboard and there promises to be something for the beginner as well as the expert. In addition, we will have a sessions to help you rev up your research activity including a session on using your experience in teaching and learning to create scholarship and a session that will explain how you can have that scholarship published in a peer-reviewed journal. This is an event packed with professional development opportunities to help you grow as a teacher. We are still collecting ideas for Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) for the fall semester. Research shows that FLCs tends to improve the culture of the institution. In addition, one study revealed that junior faculty who participated in FLCs were tenured at a significantly higher rate that for those who were not in FLCs (Cox, 1995). There are two types of FLC: cohort based and topic-based and we hope to offer both. So send in your ideas to todd.pourciau@lamar.edu now. As we move closer to the first day of class for the fall 2011 semester, we wanted to share some tips with you. Students establish their habits on that first day so it is important for you to set the tone. Foster community by making students feel comfortable and welcome. That means you should arrive early and greet them as they enter the room. Have your name and the course name on the board. Learn their names as soon as possible and there are all sorts of ice breakers that can help you do this. Patterning also begins on that first day so you have to be really clear about your expectations and the roles that each of you will play. If you are making full use of the teaching toolbox by using active learning methods as well as traditional styles (which is what we said in our QEP) then make sure you begin the first day modeling your expectations. If you expect them to speak in class, write in class, engage in small group discussions, and develop a network of support among their fellow classmates, ask them to do this on the first day as well. Keep your message clear to avoid confusion. Remember, your CT+LE is ready to help you with any of these suggested strategies, so come by and visit us on the sixth floor of MJGL, give us a call at x8426 or send us an email.

We just wrapped up our orientation session for the ACES Fellows cohort 3 and it was terrific. This cohort of Fellows is really impressive and will definitely build upon the foundation laid by cohorts 1 and 2. The group includes Sara Gubala (Political Science), Michelle "Mo" Ozmun (Dance & Theatre) Amy Smith (English & Modern Languages) Julie Wilhelm (English and Modern Languages), and Golden Wright (Dance & Theatre). The Fellows were joined by presenters Tom Matthews, Todd Pourciau, and Randy Smith who were assisted by Rezvan Khoslessen. Provost Steve Doblin also stopped in to thank the group for their courageous leadership and willingness to improve their teaching. We will continue to share updates as the academic year progress about all of our ACES Fellows and their impact on the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Look for ACES Fellows alumni Jeremy Shelton and Cecil Johnson at the Faculty Development Fall 2011 Blastoff event on August 16. They will be presenting sessions about their experiences with course redesign and the implementation of active learning methods. There was an intriguing article on the prospect of conducting interdisciplinary research or collaborating across departments and how that scholarly work is treated during the promotion and tenure process. Just recently, the University of Southern California became one of the first institutions in the country to provide departments and committees with clear and explicit instructions on how to weigh interdisciplinary research and collaborative scholarship when rewarding faculty. USC wants to better support interdisciplinary scholarship largely because it serves a competitive advantage, according to the article.