Faculty Development

October was a cool month to be a faculty member at CSUN.  We celebrated mole day by a service learning project, my CHEM 101 students took their second midterm, and the Center for Innovative & Engaged Learning Opportunities (CIELO) offered a series of Faculty Development workshops.

I didn't get the chance to attend all the workshops but I got the notes from two of them.  October 17th roundtable was led by Prof. James Sefton (Department of History) who speaks from 40+ years of teaching experience.  I wish I could have been there, but what I got via email was a student end-of-semester self-evaluation for students to reflect on their own participation in the course assignments including reading the textbook, attending lecture, notetaking during lecture, participation in discussion, coming late to class, attending (even on Fridays!), working practice problems, attending office hours, retrieving graded work (midterm, quizzes, etc), and taking advice from Professor.  This was extremely comforting to me as a teacher.  It puts some of the awareness and onus on the students to get where they want to go (basically make an "A" in the class).  I've been feeling the pressure from students who want good grades but simply don't know how to get them.

Also, Prof. Sefton provided links to a report and supporting data regarding grade inflation at CSUN between the years 1990-2005.  The report touches on faculty concerns such as "observed deterioration in core university-level skills of reading, writing, critical reasoning, and analytical thinking."  Maybe we remember our own college experiences with rose-colored glasses, as we professors think back to our own experience in the lecture halls.  Maybe we think we (at age 17-22) were performing at a higher level than the current students.  I can't say that my life experience is common for all college students, in fact my own experience must have been unique and quite different from the experience of CSUN students.

Another two concerns raised in the report are the perception that " 'scantron exam' is common student vernacular for 'easy,' " and that "part-time faculty [should be] fully but supportively supervised, fully cognizant of academic expectations, and fully assisted in distinguishing their teaching at CSUN from their teaching at other institutions."  I am torn between assessing student progress via work-out exam (rather than multiple-choice scantron exams) and trying to find my feet in this new academic environment as a part-time faculty who has teaching experience at a wide variety of different institutions.

Offered as a possible cause of grade inflation is "Increased use of scantron exams (the usage here being the campus vernacular for 'easy') particularly in large classes, thus emphasizing memorization rather than critical thinking and writing."  This is one of my concerns also and as such, I have been doing work out tests so far this semester.  It has been grueling from the standpoint of writing and distributing the exams, carrying the large stack of papers, writing thoughtful commentary on each student's exam, and justifying the allocation of points when students argue and compare their exams with other students.

Another possible cause of grade inflation is "use of course evaluation forms in RTP actions, leading to concern by junior tenure-track faculty and lecturers about the effect of low grades on student ratings, and therefore on continued employment" which does concern me but not much.  I believe that if I do not provide a rigorous experience for my students, then I am failing them and myself, my profession and the University, robbing them of an authentic college (growth) experience and leaving them ill-prepared for life after college.  I hope (or would like to think) that I can find something to occupy my time, but my talents are best put to use in the classroom and I will be able to find another job elsewhere if things don't work out here at CSUN.  But I have heard other faculty express concerns like this and it does affect their demeanor in the classroom (the idea that their employment is not secure unless they are evaluated positively by students).

I know this post is getting lengthy, but I haven't even begun to discuss the second workshop I actually attended in person! This one was led by Geography Professor Ron Davidson about "How to get Students to Read," October 30th.  First I have to say that the Whitsett Room (Sierra Hall 451) was a challenge to locate, but worth the search.  It's on top of a pretty tall building overlooking sweeping mountain views (nearly 360 degrees) AND there was coffee brewing (and snacks) when I arrived, breathless after having run from Eucalyptus hall to arrive in the nick of time.

A graphic I made summarizing the main ideas of our roundtable is shown here!  It's somewhat cross-stitch, somewhat a woven tapestry, and somewhat a crossword puzzle.  What's always been puzzling to me is how difficult it is to get students to do work outside of class (even inside of class/discussion!).  I have always valued educational experiences/opportunities, maybe because my dad is a career teacher.  When I get the chance to listen to a leading expert in their field, I try to get as much out of the experience as possible.  I realize I slept through my fair share of classes and seminars, we're all human and time management skills take practice to acquire.

I'm thinking about the "speak softly but carry a big stick" ~Theodore Roosevelt (1901)  Also "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" ~ English Proverb (12th century).  As Mr. Wiggles says "I can't make you love dancing but I can make you better at it."  What I learned from the HOW TO GET STUDENTS TO READ faculty development workshop is that it takes both carrots and sticks to get students to read.  It's important to let students in on the process of choosing reading assignments, to select only the best reading material, to tie the assignments to real-world experiences (drawing, photography, folk-tales, poetry, essays), to allow time/space for collaboration, to be a role-model for good reading/writing behavior, and to allow room for debate.  "If you're not reading, you're just children!" ~Ron Davidson (2013)

Wonderfully, this roundtable discussion gave me the idea of letting student use their own drawings and concept maps on exams.  Also to point out features of the textbook that might be helpful to students on Day 1 to foster the student-textbook relationship.  To cite more depressing statistics....the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released a "Vital Skills" test to assess the readiness of the workforce to address 21st century challenges.  I'm thinking a great deal about formative assessments rather than summative.  There's so much more to say and explore but I've got to run to the classroom!