Impacting Students for a Lifetime - Part 5

Continued blog post series by Sally Heilstedt, Associate Dean of Instruction - Engagement and Learning at LWIT 

 

Practice Paradox

The last of the 4 Connections is Practice Paradox. In the paraphrased words of Don Wood, VP of Institutional Effectiveness at Odessa College, faculty who are masters of paradox set clear, high expectations and then are reasonable human beings when issues arise in students’ lives. In the world of advising and student services, we often referred to this as high expectations/high support. The term paradox may be a bit hyperbolic, but it communicates the challenge of setting supportive boundaries and demonstrating supportive flexibility.

Let’s focus on setting clear, high expectations. The only measure of good teaching is student learning (Dr. Bob Mohrbacher, President, Centralia College). We must never expect less-than for students to demonstrate that they have met the learning outcomes for the course. Often, however, our assignments/assessments measure something other than students’ abilities related to outcomes – they measure students’ abilities to read our minds or to work the college system. Clear, high expectations allow us to equitably measure student learning. One of the best ways I have found to do this is to use transparent assignment design. Give it a try.

Designing Transparent Assignments

Purpose

This activity prepares faculty to utilize the Transparency Framework, an assignment design template developed at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The framework improves clarity of expectations and results in increased student success.

Read 
Think of a typical class. What does your grade distribution look like for most assignments? In my initial years of teaching, it often looked something like this:

Line graph of bimodal distribution of student grades on a sample assignment.

Extreme Honesty Warning: I would look at the grade distribution and think, “Well, like always, there are the good students and the bad students.” That thought process is rightfully challenged by the Transparency Framework. The framework encourages faculty to approach students with a capacity mindset. ALL students in the course are capable. Those who struggle do so because they have not had the opportunity to develop the academic skills needed to interpret faculty expectations accurately, to persevere through difficult instructions, or to ask for help. A zero for not turning in an assignment is not necessarily an indicator of laziness or apathy – usually the opposite: the student tried for a long time and feared the work they would turn in would reinforce their belief (and the faculty member’s) that they are not a good student. This lack of academic preparedness can be called an opportunity gap, and it is a gap we, as faculty members, can close.

Use of the framework ensures that all students have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and/or skills without having to do the guesswork of what you are looking for. Instead of measuring a student’s ability to understand an assignment, you can know with more certainty that you are assessing their skills and knowledge related to course outcomes. Use of the framework at UNLV not only increased success on assignments, but also increased year-to-year retention and closed equity gaps.

Therefore, implementing the Transparency Framework on just two assignments in your class (more is great!) can:

• Increase student confidence
• Clarify your expectations
• Build trust among you and the students in your classes – this is why this is part of The 4 Connections…actually, all of these are why; I wanted to highlight this one.
• Reduce opportunity gap impact
• Increase retention
• Provide a mental framework that all students can continue to apply beyond your class
• Ensure that you are accurately measuring competencies related to course outcomes

Explore
Learn about the Transparency Framework and its impact at UNLV: https://www.unlv.edu/provost/transparency

Read about microbarriers to student success: http://www.chronicle.com/article/Micro-Barriers-Loom-Large-for/238218

Watch students share their experiences in classes that are transparently (and collaboratively) designed: https://vimeo.com/15745312

Task  

Now that you have been introduced the Transparency Framework, complete the following actions. You may change the order if you prefer to see examples first or if you prefer to review the template first. Or, you can choose to skip the examples all together. The third action should be the last one you work on.
1)      Examine two examples of less transparent assignments that were revised to be more transparent.

a. Choose from: 

                                                             i.      Sociology
                                                            ii.      Science
                                                           iii.      Psychology
                                                           iv.      Communication

b. Consider the following questions: Think back to when you were a student. Which of the two versions of the assignments would you prefer and why? What changes did the faculty members make that help improve the assignments? Can you think of any other changes that would improve transparency? Note: You do not need to submit your responses to these questions.

2)      Review the Transparent Assignment Template and Transparent Assignment Checklist.

3)      Identify two assignments from one of your courses, and apply the Transparency Framework to redesign them. Use the template and checklist as guides, but feel free to make additional changes that help to improve clarity.

4)      Reflect on the experience of revising the assignment and the hopes you have for improved student success. Consider questions like: What are your overall thoughts about the framework and the impact it can have on student success? Why did you select the particular assignment for revision? What types of assignments would benefit most from the framework? Which courses? Do you have any concerns about adopting the framework for at least two assignments in all of your courses? How might you address those concerns? If you haven’t already answered these questions, what do you see as the greatest strengths and the potential shortcomings of the Transparency Framework?

Criteria for Success  

Now, evaluate your revised assignments using the following criteria. Event better, ask a colleague to do so.
Adherence to the template and checklist (or explanation when the template and checklist were purposefully adjusted)

Clarity of Purpose, Task, and Criteria for Success sections of the assignment (adopt a student perspective to evaluate for clarity)

As you prepare for the new academic year, consider how you can build trust with your students by clarifying your expectations. As you practice the other three connections (learning students’ names, checking-in regularly, and meeting one-on-one), get to know their strengths and struggles so that you can be flexible when needed based on what  will help them to be successful.

Impacting Students for a Lifetime - Part 4

Continued blog post series by Sally Heilstedt, Associate Dean of Instruction - Engagement and Learning at LWIT

Schedule One-On-One Meetings

At the beginning of the quarter and throughout, schedule one-on-one meetings with students.

Many students will never use your office hours or the extra time you provide before and after class for questions. In all their schooling up until this point, the only time they went to an office, came early, or stayed late was most likely when they were in trouble. Others are intimidated or think you will judge them for struggling. While none of these concerns may be true, they are real for many students who struggle with impostor syndrome*. Building in one-on-one meetings as a requirement breaks down stigma and fear. It also makes it easier for you to find out how each student is doing individually.

Possible Practices:

• Q&A Form: For each meeting (e.g., beginning, mid, and end of quarter), provide students in advance with the list of questions you will ask during the meeting. Provide space for them to jot down notes. Also, ask them to write down at least one question they want to ask you. Have them bring the form to their meeting and follow it as needed.
• Project Process: Build in a meeting as part of a project. This could be a planning meeting to help students get started if they have never done a project like this before. It could be a status report midway or a final review of a draft.
• Scheduling Meetings: Sign-up forms can be printed and posted in your classroom. You can also create a Canvas page that is editable by students and you. List the time slots available and have students add their name next to the time that works best for them.

Lessons Learned:

You can spend all of your out of class time and then some meeting with students. Using the practices above can help set healthy boundaries for meeting focus and time frame. One-on-one meetings do not need to be more than 15 minutes. Are you a professional-technical faculty member with a lot of lab time and less out of class time? Build one-on-one meetings into your daily lab rotations.

*Impostor syndrome is the feeling/belief that you do not belong and someone or everyone is going to find out. Students with impostor syndrome see any action that can be perceived as failure as validation that they aren’t cut out for college. They often isolate themselves, thus reinforcing the sense that they don’t belong. Impostor syndrome is common. You might have it as an instructor. I do. Required one-on-one meetings are one of the best practices I have found to mitigate impostor syndrome (that, and talking about it openly on the first day of class).

Impacting Students for a Lifetime - Part 3

Continued blog post series by Sally Heilstedt, Associate Dean of Instruction - Engagement and Learning at LWIT 

Check-In Regularly

Pay attention to student behavior and track student progress. Empathize with students ("I am exhausted today, too. Let's make the best of this class together."). When a student is struggling, intervene.

I recently shared my excitement about The 4 Connections with a faculty member at Olympic College. When I described checking in regularly, she shared an awesome practice that she had adopted intuitively during her years of teaching. She creates a printable spreadsheet for each class that includes the students’ names in the far left column and the dates of the class sessions in a week across the top. When she interacts with an individual student, she puts a check in their row under the date she spoke with them. It may be something as simple as, “How is your cat doing?” As the week comes to a close, she reviews who she has yet to connect with and makes sure she seeks them out intentionally before the week is over. The faculty member began this practice because she recognized her own weakness – she often provided individual attention to students who were doing well and to students who were struggling, but she easily overlooked those who were doing all right. She didn’t want to miss anyone.

This example shows that The 4 Connections are practices that good teachers do naturally – and practices we can all do more intentionally to better connect with our students. A similar example is formative assessment. It is an excellent way to check in regularly about students’ learning.

As the faculty members at LWTech practiced checking in regularly with their students, they began to learn more and more about the students’ struggles and needs. Frequently, those needs went beyond teaching and learning and related to issues students were facing in their personal lives. Your college has many resources available for students on campus. One of the best ways to support students, those who are excelling and those who are struggling, is to refer them to those wonderful resources. Even better, walk them to the services and help them connect with someone there.  Not sure what the resources are? Find the Student Handbook on your college website or connect with an adviser in Student Services.  Look for programs like TRiO, disability support, counseling, tutoring, BFET, and more. Worried about remembering all that is available? No worries! Demonstrating use of the Student Handbook to find information is a great way to model help-seeking behavior to students.

Impacting Students for a Lifetime - Part 2

Continued blog post series by Sally Heilstedt, Associate Dean of Instruction - Engagement and Learning at LWIT 

Interact with Students By Name

The first of the 4 Connections is simple but for many, not easy: Learn your students' names and begin using them on the first day of class and throughout the quarter.

I have the very good fortune of having an excellent memory, if I see names written down and associate them with faces. I relied on that ability a lot as an instructor and felt pretty good about myself when I knew and could use all of my students’ names after the first day of classes. It wasn’t until my second or third quarter of teaching that I realized something was amiss. I assigned students to in-class groups about three weeks into the quarter, and it became very apparent from the “hey, yous” and “you theres” that the students did not know each other’s names. Even if you are great at learning and using your students’ names, there is still room to improve the practice of the first Connection.

What follows are a few practices faculty have adopted to better memorize and/or utilize students’ names and to help students get to know one another:

• Name Plates - Provide printer paper or cut-up old file folders and have students create name plates to stand up on their desks. Collect them and pass them out each class session for the first few weeks as a self-assessment of your learning of their names.
  
• Introduction - After I discovered that students did not know their classmates’ names – and realized I has failed to give them that learning opportunity – I began a new practice in my face-to-face classes. On the first day of class, I asked everyone to share their names and one activity each that they enjoy doing. On the second day of class, I asked them to do the same (but to share a different activity). On the third day of class, they once again shared their names and this time, an accomplishment of which they are proud. I noted all of their responses on my attendance sheet and used them throughout the quarter to design examples and content, create teams, emphasize successes, encourage transfer of skills, etc.
  
  In the online environment, create a discussion forum where students are asked to introduce themselves and reply to each other (at least two to three other students). Provide introductory questions that connect to your course content or are simple like those described in the face-to-face activity above. Take the time to reply to each of the students, too.
  
• Canvas Profiles - Ask students to add a photo and short bio to their Canvas account under Profile. Be sure to do the same. Note: Due to safety reasons, you may have students who do not feel comfortable participating in this option or are unable to post personal information to Canvas.

During any of these activities, encourage students to use their preferred names and note those on your attendance sheet or roster. As someone who went by a name other than what I had to use to register, I deeply appreciated when an instructor knew and used the name with the most meaning to me. Names carry such weight in our sense of value, belonging, and self. Learning and using your students' names communicates that you value them, that they belong, and that they can be themselves in the classroom community.

Impacting Students for a Lifetime - Part 1

by Sally Heilstedt, Associate Dean of Instruction - Engagement and Learning at LWIT 

 
A little over a year ago, I walked into a session at the Achieving the Dream (ATD) annual cohort kick-off event (LWTech was there to learn more about ATD). Now, I can’t recall the exact title but it was about faculty-student relationships and success. I was thrilled to see it on the agenda. When the session began, I felt like I had been duped – data, data, data…yadda, yadda, yadda. After only a few minutes, however, the session was handed over to Don Wood of Odessa College. He began to share his journey, and the college’s, as he discovered a profound truth about student success: connection to faculty members matters, a lot.

Don, then dean and now VP of Institutional Effectiveness, was worried about course success. Students at Odessa were dropping out at high rates. Odessa’s overall in-class retention was only 83 percent. Initially, Don investigated the impact of commonly identified variables that impact courses success: subject, course, time of day, rigor, and student preparedness. There was no significant correlation to high dropout rates (I was shocked by this, too!). Then, he looked at the instructional side of the equation. Do different teaching methods impact dropout rate? No, again. What?!? Don moved to a qualitative approach to try to understand why some instructors had very low dropout rates. He interviewed them and coded their responses and something wonderful emerged (my embellishment added). The faculty who had the lowest dropout rates demonstrated “a common thread of connectivity to their students” (Kistner & Henderson, 2014).

Yes! I felt reinvigorated in my commitment to teaching and to faculty development and to student success and to completion and all the work that had lost a little of its luster for me. Here was the core of everything. But, what does connectivity look like? Well, Don didn’t leave it there. He broke down the responses further into four common practices shared among the faculty with the highest in-class retention: 1) Interact with students by name; 2) Check-in regularly; 3) Schedule one-on-one meetings; and 4) Practice paradox. Over the next few weeks, I will write about each of the four and the different ways faculty at LWTech and across the Washington State Community and Technical College system have chosen to practice them.

Odessa asked all faculty to practice what they came to call The 4 Commitments for at least one quarter. Their in-class retention rate went from 83 percent to 95 percent!!! And, that new rate was “regardless of gender, age, race/ethnicity, or Pell status” (Kistner & Henderson, 2014). Incredible! Few practices in higher education have been able to increase student success AND close equity gaps – here is a simple (but admittedly, not easy) approach rooted in the hearts of students and teachers. I can’t wait to share more about what The 4 Connections (LWTech’s adaptation) has meant for the faculty with whom I work.

If you can’t wait for the next post, visit http://bit.ly/4connections to learn more.
 
Reference: Kistner, N.A., & Henderson, C.E. (2014). The drop rate improvement program at Odessa College. Achieving the Dream’s Technology Solutions: Case Study Series. Retrieved from http://achievingthedream.org/resource/13784/the-drop-rate-improvement-program-at-odessa-college

Getting Ready for Fall Quarter – Managing your time Part 2

Last week I wrote a post about time management. In that time I have worked on the to-do list, and am feeling pretty good about my efforts. How about you?

As I mentioned last week, I looked in my College 101 archives and found materials I used to discuss time management. I had a Top Ten list and shared 1 – 5 last week. Here’s the rest of the list!


6.    Combine Efforts:  Consider scheduling different tasks that can be done at the same time.  For example, while waiting in line or on the bus do some reading, planning or relaxing (it's important to schedule relaxing and other wellness activities).

7.    Avoid Perfectionism and Procrastination:  Often these common dynamics are rooted in a fear of results (i.e. failure, success, completion).  Examine your self-talk and/or try to temporarily depersonalize the tasks.  People often procrastinate by doing less important busy work instead of truly important tasks.

8.    Don't Overcommit:  Learn how to say NO and focus on your priorities or you'll do a lot of things not very well with too much stress.  Delegate and negotiate with others and remember to focus on your prioritized goals.

9.    Limit and Control Time Bandits:  Identify things or people who rob your time against your wishes and be assertive against interruptions.  Take action to limit the temptations of television, telephone calls, unexpected visits, extra food breaks, etc. . .  If possible, try to study in the same quiet and prepared space.

10.    Include Rewards:  Which one will motivate you?  You can arrange your environment to have someone give you this reward when you finish your task(s).  The reward can be a more enjoyable activity you decide you won't do until the task is done. But the best reward is finding a personal rewarding feeling of satisfaction through your accomplishments.

This week my favorite in #7. This is me sometimes! It makes me feel really good when all my pencils are sharpened and lined up nicely, but that doesn’t help me get my next large task, like writing a program review, checked off my to-do list. Have you ever heard the phrase “the perfect is the enemy of the good”? That’s me too. So I promise that in Fall Quarter I will work on these two tips from the list. Let us know how you’re doing!

Getting Ready for Fall Quarter – Managing your time Part 1

by Peg Balachowski, Associate Dean of Teaching & Learning at EvCC 
 
Several years ago I taught a College 101 class. As you might expect, time management skills are an important thing for new college students to assess. Have they ever had to manage their time? Have they learned to manage it efficiently? And what, exactly, is time management?


Of course I went to Wikipedia:
Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities – especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.
It is a meta-activity with the goal to maximize the overall benefit of a set of other activities within the boundary condition of a limited amount of time, as time itself cannot be managed because it is fixed.

A meta–activity. I love it! I never thought of time management in that way!

So…maybe you are about to start your first teaching job. Maybe you are teaching at multiple campuses, spending time commuting from one campus to another, possibly on the same day. Or maybe you work a full-time job, and teach part-time in the evening. Let’s talk about some ways to help you get through your day to increase “effectiveness and efficiency.” I pulled this out of my College 101 archives, but I bet you will find these reminders helpful:

Time Management Tips

1.    Discover How You Spend Your Time:  Keep a temporary 24 hour schedule recording how you live your life (i.e. habits, peak productive times, free time, and common distractions).

2.    Prepare Written To-Do Lists:  Make and update a list of specific tasks you want to complete, including the time you plan to start and finish.  It is very important to create a priority rating system by using numbers, ABC's or symbols (*,!,+).  Don't put it on your list unless you have a good reason to do it.

3.    Improve Decision-Making:  Develop your ability to prioritize based on many factors including your values, deadlines, resources, available time and consequences.

4.    Break Down the Tasks:  Often tasks are viewed as unmanageable and "too much".  To make them appear less threatening, schedule the tasks in divided parts that are easier to do in shorter time periods.

5.    Prepare Written Time Schedules:  Especially for visual learners, it's important to see your daily, monthly, quarterly and/or annual schedule.  First fill in all of your commitments and life necessities (i.e. work, class, meetings, grooming, eating).  The free space available is your time to schedule your to-do list items.  Make sure these schedules are placed where you can frequently read and modify.

My favorite, and one I have to remind myself to do all the time is the to-do list. Like many people, I get a lot of satisfaction from being able to cross something off of that list! My goal is to have a list for the day as soon as I get to my desk. I’m not always successful, but I find that on the days I accomplish this I get more done (like writing blog posts!) Pick one of these tips, and let’s practice!