Moore's Musings:
On Triage and Trust

The pace of my own professional and personal life these days has me thinking constantly about the notion of triage, determining which “patients” (priorities, tasks, emails, meetings, you name it) need attention immediately, which can wait, what would be problematic to let fall through the cracks entirely, that sort of thing. Maybe it’s just me and my own modest energy level, but it doesn’t seem possible or sane to do it all, especially if one hopes to maintain some reasonable level of balance between work and family, between making a difference in the world with the talents one has and also taking some time to appreciate and enjoy what this life has to offer. So you navigate your way through a dizzying array of small and large expectations, demands, interests, and needs and make choices all of the time; you do the best you can and hope for the best.[read more]

"Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry men pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other."
--Paolo Freire

"Creating Significant Learning Experiences"
Pacific Northwest Higher Education
Teaching & Learning Conference

Just a reminder that the Pacific Northwest Higher Education Teaching and Learning Conference, "Creating Significant Learning Experiences" is less than two months away. Conference headquarters are at the Vancouver Hilton in Vancouver, WA; the dates are May 2-4, 2007. Proposals are currently being reviewed; when the process is completed session descriptions will be posted to the Web.

This year's conference brings with it some new and exciting features. The first is the inclusion of students in some sessions. At last year's conference the closing plenary featured a panel of students from North Seattle Community College and Western Washington University who shared their perspectives on what they found exciting and intriguing from sessions they had attended. This year, students will participate (in person or by audio or video) as presenters. We hope their voices/perspectives will encourage faculty to continue to develop deeper connections with students--connections that provide meaningful and multifaceted learning experiences to build on as they progress towards their educational goals.

In addition to student participation in conference sessions, they will again take part in the closing plenary lunch on Friday, May 4. Designed to be fun and fast moving, this is one plenary you don't want to miss!

Another new feature, scheduled during Thursday's lunch, is the presenting of the 1st Annual Teaching, Learning & Assessment AWARD(s) and a Distance-Learning Award. These awards are just one way, as a community of educators, we can recognize the good work that is making meaningful contributions to student learning.

To be eligible for an Award, a nominee must teach and/or be in a position to directly or indirectly affect student learning in a public two- or four-year college in Washington State. Award recipients will be selected based on the following criteria criteria:

• Specific contributions/accomplishments the nominee has made in teaching, student learning and assessment.
• Is versatile and willing to take risks bringing to the learning process and environment multiple strategies and materials that are student-centered
• Is enthusiastic about his/her own learning, continued education and current research in the field
• Contributes to the teaching profession by presenting to faculty, community groups and conferences, publishing, and taking leadership roles in educational organizations
• Fosters respect and maintains a professional relationship with both students and colleagues

To make a nomination for the Teaching, Learning & Assessment Award, please:

• Prepare a letter of nomination (one to two pages) that includes:
• Nominee’s Name, College, Discipline
• Your Name, College, email address and phone
• Specific accomplishments/contributions the nominee has made in teaching, student learning and assessment, e.g., incorporating what they have learned from assessing student work into next steps that resulted in the continuous improvement of learning for others, creating classroom environments that foster student-to-teacher and student-to-student learning, etc.
• Nice to have but Optional:
• A letter(s) of support from a colleague and/or student

Please note: Award recipients need not be present to receive the Teaching, Learning & Assessment Award.

Nominations must be received no later than March 26, 2007. Please send to:
Anna Sue McNeill, PO Box 42495, Olympia, WA 98504-2495.
amcneill@sbctc.edu.

Links to Articles/Reports of Interest to Educators

2nd Annual National Freshman Attitudes Report (by Noel-Levitz)- In the summer and fall of 2006, a total of 97,626 first-year college students nationwide completed a 100-item attitudinal survey during orientation or within their fi rst few weeks of classes. This report describes the attitudes and motivations of the 97,626 first-year students spanning a cross-section of 292 institutions at the beginning of their undergraduate experience.

How Young People View Their Lives, Futures and Politics: A Portrait of "Generation Next" (The Pew Research Center, January 2007) - A new generation has come of age, shaped by an unprecedented revolution in technology and dramatic events both at home and abroad. They are Generation Next, the cohort of young adults who have grown up with personal computers, cell phones and the internet and are now taking their place in a world where the only constant is rapid change. This report takes stock of this new generation. It
explores their outlook, their lifestyle and their politics. Because the boundaries that separate generations are indistinct, the definition of Generation Next – and other generational groups mentioned in this report – are necessarily approximate. For analysis purposes, Generation Next includes those Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 years old.

Introductory Course Makeovers (Inside Higher Ed, March 15, 2007)- Intermediate algebra at the University of Alabama used to be your basic introductory class — lecture format, little interaction.

When Joe Benson, senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, looked at the grade distribution in the Math 100 course in 1999, he was displeased. Fewer than 40 percent of the 1,500 students who enrolled during that academic year received a C- or higher, and many were unable to move onto the next course in the math sequence.

“It was a situation where students, particularly at that level, had a difficult time learning the math in that format,” Benson said. “Their engagement in the course wasn’t as high as we would have liked.” By fall 2004, the grade distribution was markedly different. Seventy-five percent of students received either A, B or C grades in the course. What gave?

Teaching Without Textbooks (Bob Weir, Inside Higher Ed, March 6, 2007)- Here’s a statement with which everyone can agree: College instructors cannot assume that students come to their classes in possession of basic knowledge. Now here’s one sure to generate some controversy: In many cases textbooks deter the pursuit of knowledge more than they help it. The sciences may be different, but at least in the case of the humanities, most of us would be better off not assigning a textbook.

When Is Student Learning Good Enough (from Inside Higher Ed, February 23, 2007 ) Almost from the beginning of its work, the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education made it clear that it considered the American system of higher education accreditation to be falling short of its mission to be the chief guardian of quality among the nation’s colleges. And yet the panel’s leaders, and the Education Department officials charged with carrying out the commission’s recommendations, have also clearly viewed the accreditation system — because it touches virtually all colleges and universities — as a potential lever for bringing about the broader changes they envision for higher education.

Setting the Record Straight (Stephen Klein, Richard Shavelson, Roger Benjamin, Inside Higher Ed, February 8, 2008) - As participants in the debate regarding appropriate strategies for assessing learning in higher education, we agree with some of the statements Trudy Banta made in her Inside Higher Ed op-ed: “A Warning on Measuring Learning Outcomes.” For example, she says that “it is imperative that those of us concerned about assessment in higher education identify standardized methods of assessing student learning that permit institutional comparisons.” We agree. Where we part company is on how that can best be achieved.

IN Congress's Crosshairs (Inside Higher Ed, March 9, 2007) - A House of Representatives subcommittee lambasted college leaders Thursday for their perceived failure in stemming the illegal downloading of music and movies by students. Committee members, responding to complaints by the entertainment industry that campuses have been slow to restrict copyright infringement, pressed for answers and made vague threats about possible changes in intellectual property law that could result if higher education as a whole does not adopt a more aggressive approach.

Information Navigation 101 (Andrea L. Foster, The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 9, 2007) - College students use technology constantly. They text-message friends, compile playlists for their iPods, and are whizzes at updating their MySpace profiles. But when it comes to one kind of work they are required to do in college — namely, academic research — they can be inept. Too often, college officials say, students rely on Google or Wikipedia as sources...

"Bundle joy with curiousity and call it learning."

Conferences, Workshops, Professional Development Opportunities

"Creating Significant Learning Experiences"
Pacific Northwest Higher Education
Teaching & Learning Conference

Lodging and Online Registration: Be sure to reserve your room at the Vancouver Hilton by April 2, 2007 to be guaranteed the conference room rate; and
To avoid a late fee, please register on or before April 16, 2007

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NADE - Developmental Education: Piecing It Together; March 21-24, 2007, Gaylore Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, Nashville, TN

Tracking Your Future Teachers: How the Right Database Can Help Your Program Succeed; May 17-18, 2007, Green River Community College Auburn Campus

2007 Summer Institute on First-Year Assessment; June 10-12, 2007, Hyatt Regency Savannah, Savannah, Georgia

ISSOTL 2007 "Locating Learning: Integrative Dimensions in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; July 2-5, 2007, Sydney, Australia

CRLA 2007: A Focus on Learning;
October 21 - November 3, 2007
DoubleTree Hotel and Executive Meeitng Center, Lloyd's Center, Portland, OR

2007 Assessment Institute;
November 5-6, 2007, Westin Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana

12th Annual National Learning Communities Conference; November 7-9, 2007, University College at Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI); Call for Proposals being accepted through March 31, 2007.

13th Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning
The Power of Online Learning: Making a Difference; November 7-9, 2007, Caribe Royal, Orlando, Florida

From Louis Schmier's "Random Thoughts," we link to "The First Word in My Dictionary of Good Teaching " (February 13, 1999). Inspiring and thought provoking, Louis Schmier calls attention to the too often lacking but needed human dimension of education, showing that the heart of teaching is to care about each student as a unique, sacred human being.

From Blue Web'n an online library of Internet sites categorized by subject, grade level and format.

Freedom: A History of the U.S. (PBS)
"Freedom" is the overarching theme of this sixteen-part series, based on the award winning books by master storyteller Joy Hakim. Freedom is what has drawn to America countless human beings from around the world; it is what generations of men and women have lived and died for; it is, in a profound sense, our nation's highest calling. This is also the story of the chief obstacles to American freedom -- the "unfreedoms" that have littered our national story, and in some cases have called its very integrity into question. But despite all the mistakes and all the tragic setbacks, there is an overarching positive message to this series. This is a history of the United States as the unfolding, inspiring story of human liberties aspired to and won. Included on the site are links to short videos/webisodes from the original broadcasts, tools and activites including interactive games and quizzes, a special
section for teachers and an image browser.

"Let's tell our young people that the best books are yet to be written; the best paintings have yet to be painted; the best governments are yet to be formed; the best is yet to be done by them."

      -- John Erskine

Resource Materials/websites

Honored But Invisible: An Inside Look at Teaching in Community Colleges, (1999), W. Norton Grubb, Routeledge

Mary Stuart Huner, Betsy McCalla-Wriggins, Eric White, Editors (2007), Monograph #46, Academic Advising: New Insights for Teaching and Learning in the First Year, National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition

Truda W. Banta, Editor (2007), Assessing Student Learning in the Disciplines: Assessment Update Collections, Jossey-Bass

Study Cell - A FREE site where students can study whatever they want on their cell phones by creating their own flashcards or by downloading flashcards already created in subjects ranging from foreign languages to mathematics to citizenship, etc.

The Webquest Page is a site hosted by the Educational Technology Department at San Diego State University that provides a portal of ready-made search activities and training materials for creating your own webquests.