Please consider attending the Innov8 “Big Ideas, Short Videos” Friday talk series, tomorrow, May 3, 2-3 pm, 104 Classroom and Business Bldg

From Andrew Hamilton’s Innov8 shop, we’ve got this Friday talk series, which will feature one of the CTE’s founding Board members, Dr. Cathy Horn. Here’s a description of the series:

The Innov8 series highlights and promotes academic innovation at UH and beyond in eight-minute talks. These talks are supported by blogs, discussion boards, and links to other resources here, but they stand on their own as well.

We’ve created a truncated format in which our speakers have to do something unusual to get their messages across. We’ve asked them to inspire us. We’ve asked them to tell a story. We’ve asked them to show us how they are helping to create the future of higher education through teaching, research, service, and policy. We’ve asked them to innovate.

For more information, here’s remaining schedule for the talks this year.

Tomorrow’s sessions will include:

Ioannis Pavlidis
Eckhard-Pfeiffer Professor of Computer Science
Director of the Computational Physiology Laboratory
Web

Performance What?
Prof. Pavlidis will present pilot results from an ongoing study of stress’s role on exam performance. The study is funded by the National Science Foundation and aims to uncover the source of exam behaviors and to develop orthotic interventions. The emerging picture, although far from complete, is fascinating. Preliminary evidence suggests significant sympathetic engagement only when the level of the exam matches the preparation of the student. Sympathetic excitation is measured via wearable physiological sensors that monitor pulsation, breathing, and transient palm perspiration. It appears that such physiological measurements can assist in the quantification of the exam’s effectiveness, reshaping long-standing performance evaluation philosophies.

Ognjen S. Miljanic
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Web

Impacting Education through Technology: From Distance Learning to Customized Hands-On Models
This talk will briefly illustrate the diverse strategies we use at UH to engage students with different educational backgrounds, different interests, and different future ambitions. It will chiefly focus on two recent initiatives: (1) the preparation of a valuable distance education tool for sophomore Organic Chemistry Classes, known as eLectures, and (2) the introduction of a new course on Energy and Sustainability that is being co-taught with a UH College of Business professor Joseph Pratt. In addition, I will also discuss how we engage undergraduate students in original research in Chemistry labs, and how I plan to use 3D printing to produce customized models for teaching physical organic chemistry.

Catherine Horn
Associate Professor of Educational Psychology
Web

High Impact Teaching
Educational research has sought to understand what makes a teacher “good.” This talk will introduce three important lessons from that body of research: high impact teaching; the relevance of asking good questions; and the importance of care. We will discuss how to leverage best empirically based practices to create a classroom where learning occurs and students succeed.

Donna Pattison
Associate Professor of Biology
Web

A Comprehensive Program to Boost Student Success in Large Enrollment Introductory Biology Courses
We will discuss a comprehensive program developed to improve student success in our large enrollment freshman level introductory biology lecture courses. We will discuss strategies and activities used to actively engage students in their own learning in the lecture hall, early intervention and advising for struggling students, and our hands-on, group-oriented, peer-led recitation sessions. We will also discuss how we have incorporated study skill lessons into various parts of the curriculum. By providing these enhancements to the basic lecture course structure, we hope to increase the number of students that successfully complete the course and positively impact long term retention and graduation rates.

***

Hope to see you there,

Michael Wesch on “Knowlegeable” vs. “Knowledge-Able”

Posted: April 30, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: David Mazella, Lindsay Schwarz | Leave a comment

CTE member Lindsay Schwarz recommended this suggestive video of KSU Anthropologist Michael Wesch at TEDx, talking about the difference between being “knowledgeable” and being “knowledge-Able.”

As he discusses in a few examples, today’s information environment makes it both supremely easy and supremely difficult to

Connect
Organize
Share
Collect
Collaborate
Publish

So what does this state of affairs suggest for contemporary students and their teachers?

And for the some further thoughts about technology and teaching, see this.

Congratulations to this year’s Teaching Excellence Award Winners! UPDATED WITH PICS

Posted: April 26, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: David Mazella, Teaching Excellence Awards | Leave a comment

UH honored its best researchers and teachers (often the same people) at its award dinner the other night.

Mike Harold, M.D. Anderson Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering, was awarded the University of Houston 2013 Esther Farfel Award, which comes with a $10,000 cash prize, and recognizes faculty excellence in research, teaching, and service.

Also noteworthy was this year’s Distinguished Leadership in Teaching Excellence Prize, which was awarded to Joe Pratt (History and Business). Here is a picture of Joe receiving the prize from a much shorter person:

Here is the description of the Prize and its expectations:

This award is given to a previous Teaching Excellence Award recipient who in 10 years or more of teaching has made sustained and significant contributions to education. In the subsequent academic year of the award, the recipient will mentor other faculty and serve as an adviser to the Center for Teaching Excellence. The recipient is honored with a trophy and a prize of $25,000, divided into a $15,000 cash award and $10,000 in departmental support.

We are looking forward to working with Joe Pratt in the coming year.

Here are the other award-winning teachers honored the other night, with descriptions of their prizes:

Career Award
This award is given to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching over the course of his or her career of 20 years or more at UH. The recipient is honored with a trophy and a $12,000 prize.

* David P. Shattuck, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Teaching Excellence
This award is given to faculty in recognition of outstanding achievement in teaching. Recipients are honored with a trophy and an $8,000 prize.

* Richard H. Armstrong, Modern and Classical Languages
* Ann C. Christensen, English
* Thomas J. George, Finance
* Sapna Kumar, Law
* Thomas William Lowder, Health and Human Performance

Provost’s Core
This award is given to faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching in the core curriculum. Recipients are honored with a trophy and an $8,000 prize.

* Francesca D’Alessandro Behr. Modern and Classical Languages

Innovation in Instructional Technology
This award is given to faculty in recognition of outstanding achievement in teaching using innovation in instructional technology. The recipient is honored with a trophy and an $8,000 prize.

* Gangbing Song, Mechanical Engineering

Instructor/Clinical
This award is given in recognition of outstanding teaching by faculty instructors, clinical faculty, research faculty, artist affiliates and lecturers. Recipients are honored with a trophy and an $8,000 prize.

* Bret J. Detillier, Information and Logistics Technology
* Patricia Dorsey, Sociology
* Paige K. Evans, Mathematics
* Kelly Y. Hopkins, History
* Aditi Marwaha, Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences
* Iain Morrison, Philosophy, Honors College
* Michael R. Newman, Accounting and Taxation
* Chad M. Wayne, Computer Science

Graduate Teaching Assistant
This award is given to graduate students in recognition of outstanding teaching. The recipients are honored with a trophy and a $3,500 prize.

* Zachary Hall, Marketing and Entrepreuneurship
* William Russey, Biology and Biochemistry
* Micki Washburn, Social Work

Group Teaching Award
This award recognizes clusters of faculty in both formal and informal programs who demonstrate a strong commitment to teaching and student success, who have worked together collaboratively to improve student outcomes and who demonstrate effective and innovative teaching. The award is presented to up to two groups. Each teaching group is honored with a group trophy and a prize of $30,000.

Health and Human Performance Group

* Lisa Alastuey
* Charles Layne
* Rebecca E. Lee
* Prashant Mutgekar
* Anne Ogborn

Computer Science Group

* Chang H. Yun
* Jose Baez-Franceschi
* Zhigang Deng
* Olin Johnson

http://www.uh.edu/uhtoday/archives/2013/April%202013/Farfel%20award-Mike%20Harold

In the future, we would like to feature some of the practices and insights of UH’s most distinguished faculty. Do you have any ideas about how we might document and disseminate the best teaching practices at UH? If so, please share them with us, here or in an email to mazella@central.uh.edu.

Thanks,

Please consider attending a CIRTL workshop, Apr. 25th, 12-1:30, 324 Farish Hall, on “Tenure and Promotion: What You Should Know, and What You Should Ask” (w/free lunch!)

Posted: April 23, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: CIRTL, Shirley Yu | Leave a comment

“Tenure and promotion: What you should know, what you should ask”

Thursday, April 25, 12-1 pm; Lunch and discussion 1:00-1:30pm (please arrive at least 15 mins prior to the session)
Location: 324 Farish Hall
FREE LIGHT LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED!!!

UH’s own Dr. Don Foss (Psychology), will share his experience in building an academic career. Come learn the tools for navigating tenure and promotion. This session is ideal for those considering careers in academia as well as assistant professors who have already embarked on their careers.

**Join Dr. Foss along with your fellow faculty, post-docs, and graduate students in a learning community as this session is broadcast from the UH campus!

**A limited number of seats are available for this live session in 324 Farish Hall (located on the 3rd floor of Farish Hall in the CITE computing lab suite 300).
** Doors will open at 11:30 am for attendees to check-in, and Dr. Foss will be available after the session until 1:30 pm for an extended discussion and Q/A.

Come enjoy a lunch as you mingle with Dr. Foss, students, and faculty!

Please RSVP (by Tuesday, April 23 at 5 pm) to Hibah Salem at (uhcirtl@uh.edu) to ensure your seat!!

This session will also be facilitated through Blackboard Collaborate with the following faculty members from the CIRTL Network:
Philip Cohen, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Dean, Graduate School, Professor, Department of English, The University of Texas at Arlington

Daniel Mosse, Professor, Department Chair, Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh

Event Flyer: http://www.cirtl.net/files/CoffeeHourSeries_April.25.2013.Flier_.pdf

For questions regarding UH-CIRTL, please contact the Program Assistant, Hibah Salem at (uhcirtl@uh.edu)

Please attend our Faculty Resource Workshop, April 18th, 1-2:30pm, on Developing Critical Thinking in the Multiple Choice Format

Posted: March 30, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: Critical Thinking, CTE Brown Bags, CTE Division of Faculty Resources, CTE Faculty Workshops, Jim Garson | 3 Comments

Center for Teaching Excellence Faculty Workshop

Event Date:
Thursday, April 18, from 1:00-2:30pm

Event Location:
M.D. Anderson Library, Room 306 (Faculty Senate Offices)

Title:

The Critical Multiple Choice: Developing Critical Thinking with Multiple Choice Format
This workshop provides a hands-on forum to help you design and evaluate multiple choice questions so that they engage your students’ critical thinking abilities.
We will cover basic principles of effective question design, as well as novel approaches that focus on fundamental pedagogical goals.

Please bring some of your own multiple choice questions to use in the workshop, and we will provide feedback and discussion on the best strategies to develop effective questions in your field.

For RSVPs or questions regarding this workshop, please contact Prof. Jim Garson at garson@Central.UH.EDU.

VIA Sherman Dorn: The Institutional Dilemmas of Online Education . . . .

Posted: March 15, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: MOOCs, Online Education | Leave a comment

USF Professor Sherman Dorn has some interesting perspectives on why online education cannot be treated as a “monolith,” and the difference that this makes for the perennial question of whether online education can generate significant revenue for institutions over and above their face-to-face classes:

The lesson here is that the organization of classes online (or blended) is affected by the same institutional constraints that affect face-to-face classes, making it unlikely that online education can be a significant “money-maker” for institutions.

Read the bullet points here.

Needs Assessment Survey Regarding Teaching and Training of Graduate Students; UPDATE: Deadline Extended to April 8

Posted: March 9, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: David Mazella, The Graduate Experience | Leave a comment

UPDATE: Please note that the Deadline for response has been pushed back to April 8.

Dr. Andrew Hamilton and CTE are co-sponsoring a Needs Assessment survey, which we hope you’ll answer, whether you are a graduate student, faculty member, or direct supervisor of TAs.

Here’s the notice, which you may have also seen in your email. Please take the time to respond at the links below, so that we can get a better sense of the campus-wide needs for TA support. All responses will remain anonymous.

Thanks, DM

***

Dear Colleagues,

We’re writing to ask you to complete a needs assessment survey related to teaching and professional training of graduate students. At present the University has no campus-wide TA or professional training requirements, even in basic policies and procedures. While the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) offers TA training that is open to all graduate students, and many academic units also train their own TAs, these and other efforts have been largely discrete and on the basis of voluntary time, interest, and inclination. Recently, several units have expressed interest in scaling up these training efforts as a means to improving and enhancing undergraduate learning, preparing graduate students for the job market, meeting the demands of the accreditation process, and informing TAs more fully about University policies and expectations. In order to make that work fully meaningful, the first step in this effort is undertaking a university-wide needs assessment. This needs assessment is a way to determine what is working, what is not, and what faculty and TA supervisors, as well as graduate students, would like to see, if anything, from an expanded TA training program.

Please complete the survey at the appropriate link below by April 1. All information collected through this needs assessment is and will remain anonymous.

For faculty and others who supervise TAs directly:
http://www.uh.edu/fdis/survey-f2012-fac-ta-sup

For faculty and central administration:
http://www.uh.edu/fdis/survey-f2012-admin-fac-46ba21

For graduate students:
http://www.uh.edu/fdis/survey-f2012-current-grad-4ed743

Questions about the survey or its processes should be directed to Tamara Fish (tfish@Central.UH.EDU / 713-743-8040)

With best wishes,

Andrew Hamilton
Executive Director, Academic Innovation
UH Academic Affairs

Catherine Horn
Assoc. Professor, College of Education
Faculty Board of Directors, UH Center for Teaching Excellence

David Mazella,
Assoc. Professor, English
Director, UH Center for Teaching Excellence

VIA NYTimes: Financing for Colleges Declines as Costs Rise

Posted: March 6, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: David Mazella, Economics of Higher Ed, Retention and Graduation Issues | Leave a comment

Just so we’re all clear about this . . . .

State and local financing for higher education declined 7 percent in fiscal 2012, to $81.2 billion, according to the annual report of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, and per-student support dropped 9 percent from the previous year, to $5,896, in constant dollars, the lowest level in at least 25 years.

And heres are the key paragraphs, which tie rising costs to degree completion rates:

Over the last 25 years, the share of public university revenues coming from tuition and fees has climbed steadily to 47 percent past year, from 23 percent in 1987. And with ever-higher tuition, full-time college attendance is out of reach for an increasing number of students, which bodes ill for their chances of completing a degree.

“We’ve developed a culture that says part-time study is O.K.,” Mr. Lingenfelter said. “But the more you go to school part time, the less likely you are to finish. We should be providing enough assistance that students can pay attention to their education, and not making a living for a short period of time, so they’ll be prepared to make a good living for a long time.”

Read the full NYTimes article from Tamar Lewin here.

Resources for Dealing with Student Issues of Concern

Posted: March 5, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: David Mazella, Student Resources | Leave a comment

Dr. Heidi Kennedy, of Academic Program Management, sent this notice out, and I’m redistributing this list of resources so that everyone reading the blog has it to hand:

COUNSELING:
COUNSELING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES (CAPS)
( http://www.caps.uh.edu )
Tel: 713-743-5454
CAPS offers various free and low-cost services to eligible UH current students (and employees, view their fee schedule for details
http://www.caps.uh.edu/services-fees.aspx ).
For after-hours, counselors may be contacted on a 24-hour crisis basis through the UH Police Tel: 713-743-3333

STUDENT BEHAVIOR:
Recognizing and Referring Students in Crisis
http://www.caps.uh.edu/crisis-helping-students-of-concern.aspx
Dealing with Disruptive Student Behavior

Click to access Civilityflyer.pdf

brochure published by the Dean of Students Office ( http://www.uh.edu/dos )
CART: Conduct Assessment & Response Team
http://www.uh.edu/cart
CART coordinates University assests and resources in order to assess and respond to UH students who exhibit threatening and concerning behaviors.

SAFETY & SECURITY:
UH DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY ( Campus Police).
The UH-DPS website contains an information resource page. http://www.uh.edu/police/home.html
Emergency: call 911
UH-DPS – Non-emergency: call 713-743-3333

VIA Flavorwire: Learn from the Best: 10 Course Syllabi by Famous Authors

Posted: March 2, 2013 | Author: Dave Mazella | Filed under: David Mazella, Syllabi | Leave a comment

If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to have taken courses from some famous writers (like UH’s own Donald Barthelme), culture blog Flavorwire posted copies (complete with student annotations) of authors like novelist David Foster Wallace, Barthelme, novelist Zadie Smith, poet W.H. Auden, and cartoonist Lynda Barry.

Honors for the toughest reading load has to go to Auden, who seems to have assigned over 6000 pages to his University of Michigan juniors, seniors, and graduate students, though admittedly he did drop The Education of Henry Adams and Faust, pt I (for lack of time?). Honors for toughest tone goes to Lily Hoang, who informs her writing students: “This is a graduate workshop. If you don’t know what this means, I suggest you go buy a book on fiction.” Prize for best illustrations goes to cartoonist Lynda Barry, who distributed this syllabus page: