Weekly News and Tip, August 21, 2008

What's This?
The CELT Weekly News and Tip email is sent each Thursday during the academic year. It contains a teaching tip, often related to issues that arise at a particular point in the semester; announcements of workshops and seminars; and other information useful for your teaching life. If you are receiving the Weekly News and Tip for the first time, welcome to Iowa State! If you wish not to receive this email or to receive it via a different email address, please contact celt@iastate.edu.

Tip - Be Ready for the First Day
As you assemble syllabi and prepare opening-day notes, be sure to note these ways of creating a positive learning environment at the start of the semester. These are CELT tips that have been linked by college and university teaching centers across the U.S. See:

• Create a positive learning environment on day one of the semester
• Course Planning

Announcements - Revised TA Handbook is Online and in Print; New CELT Workshops To Be Online Soon

• New TAs received a new edition of the Teaching Assistant Handbook: Advice for New Teachers, which has been brought up to date by CELT program assistant Karen Bovenmyer. Other TAs and their supervisors can access an electronic copy, including expanded information for international TAs.
• Some of CELT's Fall 2008 workshops are already on line, and more are on their way.

FYI - FERPA Reminder
As the year begins, keep in mind your students' right to privacy under the FERPA act. Learn what ISU faculty and staff need to know.

Invigorate Your Classes with Interactive Activities and WebCT

You can enhance large lecture classes by incorporating small-group interactive activities to supplement your instruction and energize students. Dr. Jim Colbert, Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, aims to provide one or two such activities per class.

Watch the 12-minute clip to see Dr. Colbert lead an interactive small group activity in Biology 202.

See how the activity boosts student involvement, while helping the students develop critical thinking and teamwork skills.

Also learn how to take the discovery process one step further by using WebCT to share students' ideas with the larger group, and to acknowledge and reward participation.

Note: You will need RealPlayer to view these video clips. If you do not have RealPlayer, you can get a free download at www.real.com.

If RealPlayer does not automatically launch these clips, they may have been downloaded to your desktop.

A Mid-term Formative Evaluation

You can learn a great deal about how your students are learning in a course, and what adjustments both you and your students might make, by asking your students to give your course a mid-term evaluation. Dr. Michael Martin, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, explains how and why to do midterm evaluations, and how a "formative" evaluation differs from a "summative", or end-of-term, evaluation.

Watch the 9-minute clip to see Dr. Martin describe the midterm assessment to his students.

Review CELT's directions for doing a formative plus/delta.

Note: You will need RealPlayer to view these video clips. If you do not have RealPlayer, you can get a free download at www.real.com. If RealPlayer does not automatically launch these clips, they may have been downloaded to your desktop.

Group Quizzes

You can enhance large lecture classes by incorporating small-group interactive activities to supplement your instruction and energize students. Dr. Jim Colbert, Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, aims to provide one or two such activities per class.

Watch the Group Quiz Clip

See how the activity boosts student involvement, while helping the students develop critical thinking and teamwork skills.

Also learn how to take the discovery process one step further by using WebCT to share students' ideas with the larger group, and to acknowledge and reward participation.

Note: You will need RealPlayer to view these video clips. If you do not have RealPlayer, you can get a free download at www.real.com.
If RealPlayer does not automatically launch these clips, they may have been downloaded to your desktop.

Modeling Effective Teaching Techniques

Teaching is extremely complex. At the most fundamental level, however, to be effective, the teacher must engage learners mentally to find out what they are thinking. Dr. Mike Clough, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, says that if you do those two things well, the payoff is tremendous.

Watch this 7 1/2-minute clip to see Dr. Clough model several techniques that may be used in small or large classes to engage students mentally and reveal their thinking while he leads a class on how to teach effectively.

Create a positive learning environment on day one of the semester

As an instructor, your approach on the first day is critical to creating a positive learning environment. Right from the start, your actions set the tone for the entire course. Regardless of class size, it is important to welcome the students, set clear expectations and create an environment that is conducive to learning. Engaging students in a large class, however, can present unique challenges.

Watch the following movie clips to see what works well for Dr. Corly Brooke, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, on day one of HDFS 102, Individual and Family Life Development.

• Welcoming students
• Classroom procedures
• Reviewing syllabus and note taking
• Interactive activities
• Managing a discussion
• Handing in papers and closing class

Top 15 suggestions for the first week of class (55 KB PDF)