Colleagues,

FACULTY RECOGNITION RECEPTION

Please attend. The Annual Faculty Recognition Reception is scheduled for Tuesday, April 17 at 3:00 p.m. in the ballroom of the Rogalski Center. Upwards of 30 faculty will be recognized for their research, publication and or public performances over the past year. Much of their work will be on display so we can all see the work for which they are being recognized. It's a great way to celebrate the scholarship of our fellow faculty, see some examples of the scholarly productions of our Ambrose colleagues and congratulate those whose efforts are being celebrated. Dr. Rogalski will be presenting recognition awards. This annual reception is sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee. (Of course, there will be refreshments.)

MESSAGE FROM ARUN PILLUTLA ON USING THE IDEA FORM

"This note is long overdue, but I write it with full sincerity. Thank you for funding my use of the IDEA form evaluation for two of my classes last semester. I taught the classes for several years, but there still are many things that can be improved in delivering the material to the students. Of all the types of evaluations that I have used in the past, the IDEA form provides a very good way to check whether the students are learning what I have intended for them to learn AND an explicit look at which of my methods worked and which failed. The IDEA form helped me in the past and it continues to help me refine my teaching ability.

If YOU would like to try using the IDEA form in one of your classes, please get in touch with Paul Jacobson to arrange it or to find out more about the IDEA form itself. Several years ago the PTS Committee approved any faculty member substituting the IDEA form for any one section of student rating. Results of such use of the IDEA form are confidential, reported only to the faculty member, and they are not used in any formal evaluation by the Promotion, Tenure and Standards Committee, unless they are submitted by the faculty member.

TEACHING CIRCLES

The Strongest Link teaching circle will meet for the last time this year on Monday, April 16, 2007 at NOON – Faculty Dining Room

The Teaching Circle, “Alternatives to Lecturing,” will meet on Wednesday, April 18th from 3:15 to 4:45 in Cosgrove 24 (Computer Lab). At the request of the members of the circle Donnie Ingram, of the Instructional Technology Department, will present and demonstrate the latest updates on Blackboard and new technologies for the classroom. All faculty are invited to attend. Please Contact Jessica Gosnell or Carol Lyon for more information.

PUBLICATIONS RECENTLY RECEIVED

The Professor in the Classroom, 13:16 entitled "The Listening Habits of Professors that Students Hate" arrived late this week. It also includes Tips on counseling students. This number includes 5 behaviors to avoid such as not waiting for a student to finish peaking, looking away when a student is speaking, continuing to work as you talk to a studrenty, permitting another teacher to interrupt when you are speaking with a student, and failing to respond to a question once it has been asked by a student. This number is worth a look. It reminded me of a few instances of my own less than stellar performance. One of the suggestions for counseling students suggests asking the student to write down briefly the actions that the student thinks caused the problem. This strategy can confirm points of agreement before proposing any suggested corrective actions and helps to highlight the problem that has to be resolved. This one is worth a look.

The Teaching Professor (21:4) for April 2007 arrived this past week. It contains brief articles on the virtue of restraint in virtual education, what influences the decision to take an online course, leaders with incentives: groups that performed better, student comments on course ratings, faculty self-disclosure in the college classroom, and a brain-friendly environment for learning. The last article is very well done and makes 5 cogent points in only one page. The two points that struck very responsive chords in me were: that students are incapable of paying attention in class--at least for more than 15 to 20 minutes-- so alternating lecture with questioning, writing, talking makes learning more likely. And the fact that thought and feeling are inseparable brain processes leads to the conclusion that associating information with values and feelings will help students retain information more efficiently. Do check this number out when you have a chance.

CTE periodical publications are available in the College of Business (with Allison Ambrose) and in the ACCEL program through Neala McCarthy as well as in the three wall pocket locations.

PROGRAM ON TEACHING IN THE DISCIPLINES FROM THE CTE

The Center is presently underwriting the cost of having speakers come to campus to work with individual departments or clusters of departments that are interested in reviewing and (perhaps) modifying/developing their teaching strategies. The first of these "teaching in the disciplines" seminars was held in January when the three departments of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Nursing heard from Kelly Sass of the University of Iowa at a seminar on teaching using the case method, especially in health-related fields. The program was a great success with faculty from nursing, OT and PT as well as from other departments.

The second presenter on teaching in the disciplines was Dr. Bill Warren, Ambrose alumnus and professor of history who spoke at several venues on campus, met with the members of the History Department, presented a brown bag in the Library, consulted on the teaching of history and met with history education majors and history majors. His visit was valuable to the history department and very interesting for SAU students.

The advisory board wants every department to be aware of this program sponsored by the Center. Consider how your department or program might best make use of this opportunity to invite a presenter to campus to work with your faculty on alternatives to or development of your current teaching styles and approaches.

Talk to any member of the advisory committee about your questions, ideas and suggestions for this program. The Center is planning to commit between $500 and $1,000 to each presentation or consultancy co-sponsored by the CTE.

CTE PERIODICAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE

Three other publications subscribed to by the Center are available in several places on campus.  The Teaching Professor, The Professor in the Classroom and the National Teaching and Learning Forum are available as they arrive in three wall pocket locations: in the old snack bar area in Ambrose Hall (in Stingers, near the elevator, ground level), in the Cosgrove Hall private dining room near the drink dispenser, and in the coffee shop on Harrison St.-- as well as at ACCEL with Neala McCarthy and through Allison Ambrose in the College of Business.

Back issues of these publications are CURRENTLY kept in the shelves in the Library on the first floor, northwest corner (along with the Center's book collection). All of the Center's subscription materials are available during the hours O'Keefe Library is open. Soon the entire Center's book collection will be integrated into the general library collection.