Can students learn how to learn? That is the question asked by an interesting story today that suggests faculty might want to allow time to employ a metacognition strategy that asks students after they take exams and again when they receive their grades to take a few moments for reflection and to answer such questions as how much they studied, how they studied, and so forth. That topic and others central to the scholarship of teaching and learning will be discussed later this week in San Antonio. The 34th annual Southwest Educational Research Association conference kicks off Wednesday. We will be sharing some of the presentations with you on this very blog. Diane Schillinger is having a wonderful freshman year. But not everything has been going well for Diane. Both her father, a painting contractor and handyman with a high-school diploma, and her mother, a registered nurse with an associate degree, lost their jobs in 2009, and Diane, the youngest of five children, has had trouble finding the $23,000 she needed to pay for her freshman year. This story illustrates the difficulty that many of our very own students may be facing at LU. It also underscores the need for faculty to get to know their students better before making rash decisions on a recent change in attitude towards class. Active teaching means establishing relationships that can lead to a holistic approach to education. Don't forget to register to attend the Lunch+Learn session on plagiarism set for Wednesday, February 9 at noon in 108 Setzer. Visit the Center's website for more information.

We are very excited to announce that Dr. Robert K. Noyd, professor of biology at the U.S. Air Force Academy, will be making a presentation to the LU community on Wednesday, March 23, 2011. The final arrangements are still being made but Dr. Noyd will share his expertise on the topics of overteaching and aligning classroom goals, student experiences, and teacher assessment. Please reserve the day now and look for more information to follow. Lumina Foundation for Education has released a new Degree Qualifications Profile which attempts to quantify student learning. It is notable that at least three accreditation organizations have agreed to test the validity of the profile by using it in their processes. "There is no generally accepted understanding of what quality represents in American higher education," says Jamie P. Merisotis, Lumina's president and chief executive officer. "Our view is that the absence of that shared understanding of what quality means has resulted in employers being dissatisfied with what higher education produces; policy makers being unsure of their investment; and students and families having a lack of clarity about choice of institutions and the relative value of their degrees." As we prepare to participate in the teleseminar on plagiarism, we wanted to remind those of you that have not signed up that there is still time. Visit Dr. Meggin McIntosh's website to register for this free teleseminar. In addition, you might want to take a look at a terrific 2-pager by Drs. Jason M. Stephens and David B. Wangaard that outlines steps you can use to prevent cheating in your classroom.

Do you think education is a public or private good? That is an ongoing debate and the dire economic times are shining a more focused light on the topic. There is a good article on the concept of public goods including the economic analysis arguments and the role of government in the allocation of resources. Have you been looking for an innovative approach to building the skills of decision–making and conflict resolution, leadership and clarity in goal setting and communication? McLoughlin and Luca present an interesting approach in their article "A learner–centred approach to developing team skills through web–based learning and assessment." Many faculty consider good mentoring to be part of the normal teaching experience. "The process, when done effectively, entails asking questions of students instead of supplying answers, entering into a dialogue instead of a monologue, and giving students some control rather than trying to exert it oneself," says Steven Volk, a professor at Oberlin College. There is still time to register for the teleseminar being offered on stopping plagiarism. You need to register for the free web-based presentation that takes place on February 1 at noon.

Are you aware that Congress has a Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness, which deals with postsecondary issues of all sorts, including financial aid, work force development, and the like? With the recent change in the House, new leadership has been chosen. Representative Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, will lead the subcommittee and has a very interesting background that should suit her well as she moves forward. Foxx spent much of her pre-Congress career in higher education, starting as a secretary at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaching and administrating at Caldwell Community College and Appalachian State University, and ultimately serving several years as president of North Carolina's Maryland Community College. As we prepare to participate in the plagiarism teleseminar, I wanted to share some interesting feedback from discussion on the POD Network's listserv. Sandra Enders, Housatonic Community College, suggests that asking students to write from personal experience can often stem the allure of cheating. Asking your students to provide a personal essay that is not graded at the beginning of the semester and is usually done in class also provides an excellent measuring instrument for all future assignments. We at the Center suggest that you ask students to make oral presentations along with any research paper they submit. The class should include time for questions from the other students. It is difficult for someone to defend something they did not write. We are now in week two of classes at LU. Have you given a test, quiz or some sort of assignment that required a grade and feedback from you to your students? If not, I encourage you to do that no later than this week. It allows the students to begin to understand what you are expecting of them and it allows a clearer profile of each student to begin to emerge for you.

Are you frustrated by the amount of plagiarism that you see each semester? National statistics show that plagiarism is on the rise. We encourage you to take advantage of an upcoming free teleseminar being presented by Caroline Eisner and Meggin McIntosh on Tuesday, February 1. The teleseminar will focus on how to prevent plagiarism, how to create plagiarism-proof assignments, and how to detect plagiarism. Have you heard of the term success coaching? Eric Hoover says that "success coaches help students with various challenges, like getting along with roommates, overcoming homesickness, and managing time and money." Many universities are adding this to their arsenal of student retention techniques. A study being released today by the American Enterprise Institute found that, in a sample of parents asked to choose between two public colleges on the basis of their own knowledge and accurate information provided about graduation rates, the parents did care about graduation rates. Providing information about graduation rates increased by 15 percentage points the chance that the parents would prefer the institution with better rates, the study found. The significance of the finding, the report says, is that one way to help more Americans earn degrees is to encourage the enrollment of more students at institutions with better graduation rates than others. Texas is receiving additional competition in the quest for economic development supremacy. State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher indicated that she wants to see SUNY become a key engine for economic revitalization. It illustrates the multiple mandates faced by higher education institutions everyday.

The first day of class of any semester is always exciting. Welcome back Cardinals! Ever take roll in class and then lose the pieces of paper you used? Happens to the best of us. David M. Reed, a professor of computer science at Capital University, in Ohio, uses his iPhone as a way to streamline the process and keep a digital backup. Brainstorming for classroom talks has gone high-tech with "mind mapping" software that encourages arranging thoughts and ideas in nonlinear diagrams. These programs have been available for years on laptops and desktop computers, but some professors say the touch-screen interface of smartphones or tablet computers enhances the process, letting scholars toss around ideas with a flick of the finger. Gerald C. Gannod, director of mobile learning at Miami University, in Ohio, recommends Thinking Space for Android devices, MindBlowing for the iPhone, and Popplet for the iPad. Mr. Delwiche, of Trinity University, likes MindJet. "It's great when organizing papers or project ideas," he said. There is an interesting story about using student performance in subsequent classes to measure the effectiveness of past instructors. If colleges looked carefully at students' performance in (for example) Calculus II courses, some scholars say, they could harvest vital information about the Calculus I sections where the students were originally trained. Which Calculus I instructors are strongest? Which kinds of homework and classroom design are most effective? Please join us for the Engaging Educators In Meaningful Assessment webinar on January 20 at noon in room 708A in the Gray Library. Contact Dr. Tom Mathews or Dr. Todd Pourciau for more information or to indicate your participation.

As we prepare for the Spring semester to begin on Monday, January 10, it is a great time to take another look at the student evaluations you have received for the last few semesters. This is especially useful if you are teaching the same subject. I am reading an interesting book by Richard Light called Making the Most of College: Students Speak their Minds. It is a phenomenological study of how students at Harvard experienced college. Many of the anecdotes are filled with practical advice. I will share more as the read progresses. This will be the third semester that the ACES Fellows have been implementing changes by using active and collaborative teaching methods in their classrooms. As we have discussed in previous blog posts, the data show that the program is making a difference both from a student and faculty perspective. We will share more of the successes from the second semester as they arrive. Convergence is the new interdisciplinary. Advances in medicine and biotechnology -- from the sequencing of the human genome to the development of small chips to detect cancer in the bloodstream -- were driven largely by scientists coming together from diverse disciplines to work on common problems. Convergence is more than simply bringing together experts in two or more disciplines to swap insights; it is an exchange of mindsets. It sounds like the scientists are adopting active and collaborative methods for their research endeavors. Are your students taking the right notes in class? If not, it may be because you are giving them the wrong cues according to research by Mark Huxham. Looking forward to Monday!

The start of a new year always holds promise and excitement. We think about the possibilities and what we hope to accomplish in the next 365 days. I guess it brings us some sort of comfort to place parenthesis around a block of time and then to fill it with goals. Who are we to argue with tradition? We want to encourage you to set your teaching goals for 2011 now. What do you hope to accomplish as a teacher? Most of us come to this profession because we like to learn. We are excited by discovery. We are constantly pursuing new ideas and concepts. Our quest for knowledge cannot be quenched. How then do we bring this same sort of excitement to our students? Think of the things that excite you. Why do you return to the same people, places, and websites? There is something about our habits that tell us a lot about ourselves. And in those discoveries also lie the key to your becoming a better teacher. We encourage you to challenge all of your notions about yourself as a teacher. Begin to try new things. Broaden your horizons, so to speak, and reinvigorate yourself (and visit this blog frequently). There is no better time than the start of a new calendar year. Happy New Year!