NUTSHELL NOTES "Teaching tips in a nutshell" - The University of Colorado at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence

Over 30 years ago, William J. Perry Jr. released results of a quarter-century research that clarified the stages of intellectual growth of college students. This work served as the core for subsequent work such as Women’s Ways of Knowing and the “reflective judgement  model.” A controversial book, Generation X Goes to College, is an excellent case study in the problems and inept remedies that arise when professors, review committees,  and  college administrators fail to draw upon what is known about the nature of student development. Outcomes less often cited from Perry’s research are four teaching or instructional variables to address the needs of students. We’ll briefly introduce these here. The next few issues of Nutshell Notes will come quickly  and deal with each of the  four  variables. These NN issues will be followed with coverage of the stages of ethical and intellectual development in students.

Structure is the framework and direction provided in a class. Students at the lowest levels of development need high degrees of structure; those further along need to grapple with more ambiguity.

Experiential Learning involves learning options designed to facilitate students’ personal connections with content. This is often called “active learning” or “learning by doing.” When we engage students in a research or design project, a role play, or data gathering followed by reflective interpretation, we are helping students to personally engage the material. Students at the lower levels need such experiences to obtain understanding and long-term retention. Recent guidelines such as the National Science Standards stress the need for such experiences. We can attest to the effectiveness of this facet--do we recall best the material in  classes we  took through the lecture method or  the knowledge that we constructed for ourselves in our theses and dissertations? The caveat here is that this is only one of four variables we need to address. Creating active learning experiences is not all we need to do.

Diversity as an instructional variable does not refer to the “diversity” of race and gender. Rather it refers to amount and complexity of material encountered by the student. It requires us to provide a variety of assignments and methods of learning so that students can begin to distinguish quantity of material from complexity of material, and ideally develop skills that enable them to engage both kinds of challenges.

Personalism is an issue we touch upon when we speak about “communication,” “social skills,” “ethics,” “community,” and “ability to work with others.” It governs the way we deal with students  outside of class, and also the way we deal with one another. It is probably the most neglected of all  aspects. The consequences of such neglect show up as dysfunctions within all levels of our educational institutions and our society. In terms of the “Seven Skills Employers Want,” defined in 1988 by The American Society for Training and Development, five of these are dominated by personalism that is not often developed by traditional formal education.

The 1999 Teaching Committee has decided that our special emphasis for the rest of  the academic year will be around “personalism”--not only how to develop that in our students, but also how  to better connect with our students, our staff and our administrators. If we are to build a superior learning community, we simply have to improve beyond the level of personalism that characterizes higher education in general. Because of the importance of this aspect to us, we are not going to entrust our annual February workshop to an “outside expert.” Instead, we are going to take on that responsibility  for ourselves. It is important that all levels of the university be included and participate this year in this particular effort in development. The faculty are only one of several groups on campus who can benefit by  improved  awareness of personalism. Flip the page of this and subsequent issues for announcements of activities regarding this year’s emphasis.
 

Opportunity: OTE Minigrants for Connecting with Students

Last year, The Office of Teaching Effectiveness authored a successful, small TLE grant to improve orientation and retention. After consultation with Danny Martinez and Peggy Lore, I have decided to allocate part of this to create an improved orientation program, and part to promote opportunities that develop  personalism. For the latter, I am requesting applications for funding of one-time academic events that involve out-of-class experiences with students. Possible uses could be a field trip, attendance at a local meeting or event, or building a display--basically any event that joins faculty and student group(s) in an out-of-class setting centered around a learning theme. (Many faculty have long had ideas they would like to try or have used their own personal funds to do such activities, but if you don’t have a ready idea, see the  list on  page 83 of Theall, M., (ed.), 1999, Motivation from Within: Approaches for Encouraging Faculty and Students to Excel: Jossey-Bass, New Directions for Teaching and Learning series, n. 78 for some more possibilities.) Three caveats apply: (1) The event must take place outside a regularly scheduled class; (2) the event must have an academic focus--it cannot simply be something like a party with students, and (3) it should be an event that would not qualify for funding through the normal allocation of student fees such as those that already support activities of a student club or chapter. As a general guideline, figure that such a minigrant support an activity at a level up to $500 maximum.

The application should be no longer than 300 words. It should  describe (1) the proposed project; (2) the students who will be involved; (3) the desired outcome(s) which you want from the project and (4) the amount of funding requested. Applications can be sent via campus mail to Ed Nuhfer, CB 137 or be sent by email to Ed_Nuhfer@maroon.cudenver.edu  prior to  November 30, 1999. The project must be completed by May 30, 2000.

YUMPS & YUMPING

There is still lots of money available for YUMPing activities. Let Bob Damrauer <bob@si.fi.ameslab.gov know if you need funding. As long as it can be justified based on being a help in your tenure journey, and as long as your Department, School, or College will match funds, your request will be funded. One award per year is given per applicant,, with a $400 maximum from the YUMP funds made available by  Vice Chancellor Cozzens. That means that with the match from your Department, School, or College, up to  $800 can be made available to you. All you need to do is e-mail a request to Bob with pertinent information (what you request and a short justification). Ask the person who will match the funds to write Bob indicating her/his willingness to support the request with a match.

Preparing  for EXTERNAL AWARDS

Each year, we get requests to nominate individuals for national or regional awards in teaching as well as a variety of other faculty activities. Unfortunately, we seldom get these requests with enough lead time to allow faculty to respond, given their busy schedules. As a “pre-emptive strike,” we would like to have on file the dossiers of qualified individuals (you know who you are!) so we can respond quickly. It is not required that you have already been recognized by CU or UCD in order to provide a dossier. Some of the nation’s  most outstanding faculty get recognized by their professions long before they are recognized by their own institutions. If you believe that you could qualify for  a teaching award, please email your name to enuhfer@carbon.cudenver.edu. Later we will arrange a short workshop in building a file. Prof. Mitch Handelsman recipient of the Case Professor award, has volunteered to help direct this. Others who have expertise are welcomed to share their expertise--just send me your name via email address above.

HOW TO WRITE AND SUPERVISE A DISSERTATION
Friday, Nov. 5, 8:30 - 12:00 CU Building, Rm. 470
Intercampus Reception   Friday, Nov. 5, 2:00 - 3:30, CU Building, Rm. 850

Dr. Estelle Phillips, a leading educational consultant from the United Kingdom  will offer practical advice to doctoral students and their supervisors on how to write and supervise dissertations more effectively.  Please R.S.V.P. to Annette Beck at 303/556-6536 or abeck@carbon.cudenver.edu. if you plan on attending the  session and/or the reception at the University of Colorado at Denver, since refreshments will be served.

Ed Nuhfer, Director Teaching Effectiveness & Faculty Development
CU-Denver Campus Box 137 PO Box 173364 Denver, CO 80217-3364
(303) 556-4915 Fax (303) 556-5855