Creating the Joyful Writer: Introducing the Holistic Approach in the Classroom
By Susan A. Schiller, Ph.D., English
Central Michigan University
I wrote Creating the Joyful Writer: Introducing the Holistic Approach in the Classroom to provide mainstream teachers with an accessible introduction to holistic education as well as to provide an affordable book that explains theory and offers practical writing activities. Teachers using this book in a classroom setting need to be familiar with holistic principles.  Creating the Joyful Writer presents a broad overview of holistic education, including historical background (dating from Rousseau), creativity theory, classroom tested activities, a list of holistic schools, and an annotated bibliography for extended reading.  It offers the basics for anyone who wants to use a holistic approach. <learn more>

Book Review
“Publish & Flourish:  Become a Prolific Scholar” by Tara Gray
Review by Kelli Corner
The book “Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar” by Tara Gray is an extension of the book by Robert Boice entitled “Professors as Writers: A Self-Help Guide To Productive Writing.” The main points from Grays’ perspective are to immediately start writing and to be systematically organized. <learn more>

Blackboard Tip
Delayed Response in Essay Exams
By Jeremy Bond and Ireta Ekstrom
On occasion students report a delayed response when typing in essay answers during tests.  All is not lost, however, as there are some simple things that students can do to improve their experience in an online exam.  <learn more>

Advancing Active Learning through Student Topic Introductions
By Gary Gagnon – Professor of Marketing
Central Michigan UniversityMany of our students are enrolled in four or five courses and plod along from class to class each day seemingly propelled merely by academic inertia. You may have occasioned upon the dazed looks in their eyes: If it is Friday, this must be Paris. Similarly, if it is 10:00 this must be biology. Once your students have come to a halt in your classroom how do you stimulate their interest and get them started and involved in the day’s topic? The answer is straightforward, have the students do it. <learn more>

A Student’s Perspective: The Three Most Valuable Teaching Methods Used by College Professors
By Sherry Echols – Graduate Student in Business Information Systems
Central Michigan University
Its 8 o’clock on a Monday morning and Sam just barely made it on time to his Biology class.  He is half awake, bored and thinks he is headed for fifty minutes of another lecture of bah … bah … bah.  It is a miracle he made it this far; his second college semester.  The only thing Sam can think about is the day he gets out of college and gets a real job.  This is a typical attitude for college students who graduated from high schools where the class sizes are small and teacher and friend networks are close.  How will this type of student ever find college interesting or more than just a four-year block of time spent to achieve a piece of paper? <learn more>

Book Review
“Using Active Learning in College Classes:  A Range of Options for Faculty” by Tracey E. Sutherland and Charles C. Bonwell (eds.)
By Stacey Beth-Mackowiak Ayotte, University of Montevallo
Using Active Learning in College Classes:  A Range of Options for Faculty is dedicated to the topic of active learning in the college classroom.  Each chapter details a specific aspect of the active learning model, and provides readers with very complete resources and references that can be sought out to further one's understanding of active learning.  In addition, each author provides useful, practical examples for a wide range of disciplines that can easily be adapted for a particular class or a particular level of learner. <learn more>

Spring Teaching Conference at CMU

The 2008 Conference on Teaching, Learning and Civic Engagement will be held Sunday, May 18 - Tuesday, May 20 at the Comfort Inn & Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

The overall conference theme this year is “Engaging the Learner.”  This theme is designed to take into consideration that the best way to learn is to be engaged in the learning process.  The conference is designed for educators concerned about creating the best possible learning environments for students. <learn more>

Blackboard Tip
Create an External Link
By Ireta Ekstrom, PhD, CMU Instructional Developer

If you want students to visit a specific website from your course shell, it is easy to add an external link in a content area. By clicking on the link you create, students will be taken directly to the outside website or directly to a publisher’s materials that complement the text. You can choose to create a button and have a content area specifically labeled External Links or links can be added to a folder within a content area or an as item in a content area. <learn more>

Invitation to Write an Article
Many times there is ongoing research, papers or presentations that would be interesting to our Central Michigan University faculty. If you would like to share a synopsis of your material, contact Todd Zakrajsek (zakra1t@cmich.edu) to discuss the content and timeline. 

Using Variety in Your Instruction to Motivate Students and Maximize Learning
By Dennis Burin, Ed.D.
CMU Adjunct Faculty-Off Campus ProgramsOne of the biggest complaints by students today and a major reason why many students drop out of school is being bored with their classes. <learn more>

A World of Opportunities
By Amy DeLine – Senior in Physics
Central Michigan University

“It looks like we’ll be going to Disney World to present our paper!”

I never expected to hear those words in my undergraduate experience. I decided in high school that I wanted to become a mathematics and physics teacher in secondary education; consequently, research was never on my mind as I journeyed through college. However, during my last day of my junior year, which was my first year at Central Michigan University, Dr. Finck, a professor of Physics called me into his office to discuss research opportunities, and I decided to give it a shot. <learn more>

Book Review
“The Measure of Service Learning:  Research Scales to Assess Student Experiences” by R. G. Bringle, M. A. Phillips, and M. Hudson
Review by Lesley Withers, Associate Professor of Communication, Communication & Dramatic Arts

Service-learning has grown extensively in U.S. universities since the 1990s, based largely upon positive anecdotal evidence – but little scientific research – supporting its use.  Those who engage their classes with service-learning projects commit the time and energy required to design and implement these programs because they believe that student participation in such projects positively impacts student learning, personal development, and civic responsibility.  Eyler and Giles (1999) and other service-learning supporters have encouraged educators to include systematic research as a part of their service-learning plans in order to develop theory, improve the implementation of service-learning programs, aid assessment, justify the allocation of resources, and provide the foundation for service-learning policy (Bringle & Hatcher, 2000).  Doing so will be considerably easier since Bringle, Phillips, and Hudson have published a book of multiple-item scales measuring a variety of constructs of interest to many service-learning researchers. <learn more>

Adding a Banner to your Course Shell
By Ireta Ekstrom, PhD, CMU Instructional Developer Many faculty like to customize their course shells by adding a personal banner. The banner is a wide rectangle, so most images will need to be cropped or resized to fit correctly.  Keep in mind that photos you do not take yourself may need copyright permission before using and if you have photographed faces it is good practice to obtain a release. <learn more>

Spring Teaching Conference at CMU

The 2008 Conference on Teaching, Learning and Civic Engagement will be held Sunday, May 18 - Tuesday, May 20 at the Comfort Inn & Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. <learn more>

Invitation to Write an Article
Many times there is ongoing research, papers or presentations that would be interesting to our Central Michigan University faculty. If you would like to share a synopsis of your material, contact Todd Zakrajsek (zakra1t@cmich.edu) to discuss the content and timeline. 

Learning about Adult Learners - Approaches to Classroom Management with an Emphasis on Compressed Format
By R.L. Hayes
The following are some general guidelines I use for teaching in a compressed format.

1. The longer the session, the more types of mediums should be used to present the information. One for each hour seems to work best; they do not have to be an hour in length, just have that number of mediums. As an example, for an eight hour Saturday session you might have the following; lecture, group work, video tape, student supplied examples on subject matter, (e.g. articles from newspapers), power point presentation, reading from course text, website examples, and classroom discussion. <learn more>

Modify the My Courses List
By Ireta Ekstrom, PhD., CMU Instructional Developer
Most faculty who have been at CMU longer than one semester have multiple items on their My Courses list that are not needed in the current semester. One has to scroll down the list to try to find this semester’s courses in the maze of numbers and titles. We do have an easy-to-do solution for this problem. <learn more>

Book Review
“Thirteen Strategies to Measure College Teaching” by Ronald A. Berk
Review by Todd Wilmore

Ronald Berk, the author of Thirteen Strategies to Measure College Teaching, is Professor of Biostatistics and Measurement at the School of Nursing, John Hopkins University, where he has served for 30 years. He has authored nine other books and numerous journal publications. <learn more>

Spring Teaching Conference at CMU

The 2008 Conference on Teaching, Learning and Civic Engagement will be held Sunday, May 18 - Tuesday, May 20 at the Comfort Inn & Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. <learn more>

Invitation to Write an Article

Many times there is ongoing research, papers or presentations that would be interesting to our Central Michigan University faculty. If you would like to share a synopsis of your material, contact Todd Zakrajsek (zakra1t@cmich.edu) to discuss the content and timeline.

Teaching Students with Asperger Syndrome in the College Classroom:  Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment
By Sara Langford, Todd Zakrajsek, and Steven Swantek
Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder characterized by poor social skills epitomized by difficulty with non-verbal communication, motor impairment, need for predictability, and restricted interests (Tantam, 1991).  It is a disorder that has been classified as an Autism Spectrum disorder – despite its major differences from mainstream autism – and is often referred to as “high-functioning” autism.  <learn more>

Book Review
“Collaborative Learning Techniques:  A Handbook for College Faculty” by E.F. Barkley, K.P. Cross, and C. Howell Major
Reviewed by Dr. Anja Mueller
“Collaborative Learning Techniques” is an excellent resource for anybody who wants to implement group projects in their classroom.  It is clearly and concisely written and covers all aspects needed for effective implementation. <learn more>

Surveys in Blackboard
By Ireta Ekstrom, Instructional Designer
A great tool in Blackboard is the survey manager. It allows an instructor to get anonymous feedback from students that can be used in various ways. For example, during a course, an instructor can check to see if the pace is working for students, if there are topics or gaps in knowledge, or just to check to see how students view the course and the instruction. <learn more>

Invitation to Review
Like to get free books? Simply request one of the following titles and write a short review for Teaching Central. You help your colleagues and you get a free book. Or if you know of a book you would like to review that pertains to improving teaching, forward the title and ISBN to Sara Langford at sara.langford@cmich.edu and FaCIT will purchase it for you.

On Teaching and Learning:  Putting the Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education into Action by Jane Vella

Strategies for Teaching Assistant and International Teaching Assistant Development:  Beyond Micro Teaching, by Catherine Ross and Jane Dunphy

A Nontraditional Philosophy of Grading
By Norma Bailey, Faculty
Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development

Editor’s Note:  Both attendance and getting students to do high quality of work can certainly be a challenge at times.  At this time of the year, when we are all immersed in grading, and as we reflect back on our semester, I asked Dr. Bailey, winner of the CASE Michigan Professor of the Year Award, to elaborate a bit on her teaching philosophy with respect to grading. Although she was, like most of us right now, swamped with grading student work, she graciously offered the following.  And should you be interested in more information about this approach, and criterion-referenced grading in general, Norma said she is always willing to chat with folks about these topics. <learn more>

Problem Based Learning
By Ireta Ekstrom, PhD: CMU Instructional Developer

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is learning that results from working with complex, real-world issues or situations. They can be structured to be accomplished in groups or individually. <learn more>

End of Semester Blackboard Tip
By Ireta Ekstrom, Instructional Developer, FaCIT

Blackboard can get a bit slow during the last few days of the semester, as students flock to the system to check their individual grades, and many faculty log on while submitting course grades.  To avoid a bit of potential stress for those turning in grades “near” the deadline, I offer the following suggestion, which will probably also save you a bit of time in the process of entering grades. <learn more>

Teachable Moments: Symbols of Hate
Todd Zakrajsek, Director
Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching

Teachable moments are rarely announced.  They can be positive or negative events, and come from just about anywhere.  How we respond to these moments define who we are as individuals and what we are as an institution. <learn more>

Student Feedback
By: Todd Zakrajsek, Director
Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching

Students are regularly provided feedback in every class they take.  Exams items are marked according to correct and incorrect responses, returned papers include notes where the writer drifted from the central theme, and journals include comments of particularly insightful summaries. With all of this feedback it is our hope that students will learn what they do well, identify areas in which perhaps they are not as proficient, and then make adjustments for future growth.  In contrast, faculty rarely get feedback from students regarding the instruction in the course.  We certainly receive feedback in terms of how well students complete required work, but that provides little direct feedback on actual instructional components. <learn more>

Maximizing the Last Day
By Ireta Ekstrom, CMU Instructional Developer

The last day of class – sometimes it seems that there are two divergent choices: 1) hand out the student evaluations, say “have a nice break” and leave or 2) talk really fast and try to pack all of those gems that didn’t make it into the rest of the semester into the last 40 minutes or so. Perhaps a better way of gracefully closing out the course is by using one of the following possibilities. <learn more>

Book Review
New Perspectives in Service-Learning, Research to Advance the Field
Book review by James T. McDonald
Associate Professor of Science Education
Department of Teacher Education and Professional Development

Many university and K-12 instructors that use service-learning (S-L) are guided by the research of Eyler and Giles (1999).  Regular updates to service-learning and research are added through conferences and research symposia.  The chapters in this book are from a series of papers presented at the Third Annual International K-H Service-Learning Research Conference in November 2003. <learn more>

Blackboard Tip
By Ireta Ekstrom

Sometimes the buttons on Blackboard’s Course page don’t fit your course structure. These buttons are easily changed or modified by using the following steps:

To add a Button:

1. Enter your course, click on Control Panel, Manage Course Menu.
2. Click +Content Area, +Tool Link, + Course Link, or +External Link.
3. Fill in the appropriate name and check whether you want this button available.
4. Click Submit at the bottom of the page and OK on the next screen.

To remove a button:

1. Enter your course, click on Control Panel, Manage Course Menu.
2. Click Remove (on the far right of the button to be removed).
3. Click Submit at the bottom of the page and OK on the next screen.

To modify a button:

1. Enter your course, click on Control Panel, Manage Course Menu.
2. Click Manage (on the far right of the button to be changed).
3. Modify the existing button’s name or availability).
4. Click submit at the bottom of the page and OK on the next screen.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom

Fall is swiftly approaching and I know you are all immersed in teaching. This time of the year is full of interest in learning and everyone in education is focused on new beginnings. <learn more>

Minds-on Audio Guided Activities: Teaching the Coriolis Effect
By Jeremy Miller and Marco Fornari, Department of Physics

iPods have entered the academic arena at Central Michigan University.  Under the “iTunes U” program (see http://www.cmich.edu/itunesu/), students may use iTunes and their personal iPod to download and listen to recordings of lectures.  Although this is certainly a welcome inclusion of technology and one that may benefit instruction, students using “iTunes U” are not necessarily actively involved in the learning process.  It is under this premise that we have attempted to develop a use of audio aided instruction that involves active learning by students. <learn more>

Book Review
Professors as Writers by Robert Boice
Review written by Dr. Catherine Riordan, Vice Provost

There has been a lot of writing going on at our house this summer.  Phil attended the FaCIT workshop by Tara Gray in April, and has been following her advice religiously, including joining a group of faculty who meet every Friday to share and talk about their writing—products and process.  My writing is much more solitary and focused not on my own voice, but conveying the positions of others or an institution.  Our eldest daughter’s writing is of cards and thank you notes—much less stressful than the college essays she was writing six months ago.  During that time she had at least a touch of every writing ailment summarized in Robert Boice’s book on writing:  Professors as Writers: A Self Help Guide to Writing (1990).  In comparison, Phil and I are doing much better—we suffer from only two or three of the common problems writers face. <learn more>

Blackboard Tip
By Ireta Ekstrom

Beginning this semester (fall, 2007), the IT help desk can now combine course shells in Blackboard for faculty. Requests should be made by the instructor of record with the instructor’s global ID and all section numbers ready to provide. To contact the helpdesk call 3662 on campus or 989-774-3662 off campus.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom

The summer is moving along – complete with picnics, sitting on the front porch and watching for thunderstorms. About this time in the summer do you start thinking about the coming school year? <learn more>

Online Course Delivery, Tips and Three Essentials of Course Design (Outcome, Activity and Assessment)
By Ireta Ekstrom, CMU Instructional Developer
Summer is moving along -- is it time to revamp a course? Or do you have a new course to teach?

Beginning this process can be a daunting task. You are faced with the delicate balancing act of a wealth of information and the inflexible limits of a semester. One process of organization that works for many faculty is to use the outcome, activity, assessment method. These three elements create the backbone of good course design. Having these elements organized and in place creates a unified whole for building the course. <learn more>

Book Review
Online Student Skills and Strategies Handbook
Reviewed by Dr. Richard A. Schilke

The stated purpose of this handbook is “to give online instructors a tool to help their students develop and improve the skills and competencies that are necessary for success in online courses” (p. ix).   The authors have met their purpose for the most part.  The authors address general online student organization and learning skills in addition to three key software tools, web-browser, email, and course delivery environments.  This handbook serves as an excellent fundamental resource for beginning and intermediate online and hybrid students.  <learn more>

Blackboard Tip
By Ireta Ekstrom

A new feature in Blackboard has been added to enable faculty to monitor the size of their Blackboard shell. In the past one would not know the shell was reaching full capacity until items would not load. Now it is easy to check before uploading a large document or media. <learn more>

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,

Summer has arrived. Spring courses are over, another class has graduated and many of you are in the middle of writing and researching to advance your field of study. <learn more>

Online Course Delivery, Tips and Techniques That Really Work
By Dick Cassle
Before Classes Begin ...
Email.  Before the course begins I ask the students to send me an email from their school email account indicating when they ordered their textbook and to provide me with contact phone numbers. This does several things. It gets the students actively communicating with the instructor and it insures they know how to use the school email system. It also improves the chances that they will have their textbook before the class starts and provides the instructor with up-to-date contact information for the students. <learn more>

Making Sense of Student End-of-Course Written Evaluations
By Todd Zakrjasek, Director, FaCIT
End-of-the-course student ratings are often a frustrating experience for many faculty. On the one hand, we want to know what our students think about the course and to make adjustments to aid in their learning. On the other hand, these comments are at times not helpful, or may be wildly different from one another. Often, within the same course students comments are as varied as ‘the course was really good’ to ‘awful class and the person teaching it needs a new job.” It can be very difficult to make sense of such comments, but there are methods that can be used to make excellent use of your students’ comments. <learn more>

Book Reviews

Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty (read)

Effective College Learning (read)

Blackboard Tip
By Ireta Ekstrom

Did you know that you can change the color and shape of your Blackboard buttons on the opening page?

There are an amazing number of choices within Blackboard to customize the entry point for your class. To find the choices: click Control Panel  > Course Design  > Course Menu Design.

Your first choice includes whether to have text or buttons; if buttons are selected, choices include style, pattern and color. If text is selected, the background and text colors are available. (Note: if the change doesn’t happen automatically, click the refresh button.)

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
In the wake of the tragedy yesterday at Virginia Tech, Todd Zakrajsek has written an article on methods for dealing with tragedy within the classroom.

In addition to that article, our newsletter this month has an interesting article by Alan O’Keefe and Marco Fornari on problem based learning. This is one of the many methods of helping students engage in the learning process and illustrates how they were able to use this method in Physics. <learn more>

In The Wake of Tragedy: Assistance for Faculty in Responding in a Time of Crisis
By Todd Zakrajsek
Virginia Tech just experienced the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. The number of fatalities is mind numbing, and that it happened on a university campus is particularly impacting for our students at CMU. With certainty, there are many people at CMU with some tie to individuals at Virginia Tech, and even those without direct ties are understandably shaken at what has happened. <learn more>

Cooperative Problem Based Learning and Content Coverage: Experiences in Physics
By Alan D. O’Keefe and Marco Fornari,
Dept. of Physics, Central Michigan UniversityProblem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching methodology that pursues active and cooperative learning. Rather than taking in information through listening to the teacher lecture, the students in a PBL class must take control of their own learning both as individuals and as a team. The approach is simple: students are presented with complex, real-world, open-ended problems and learning is achieved by identifying, researching, and elaborating upon such material in a group. <learn more>

The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach
Review by Jan Keith Farmer
Across the country colleges and universities are changing their focus from what faculty teach to what students learn. A learning-centered course syllabus can help students understand their expanded role and provide faculty an opportunity for scholarly reflection as higher education continues to transform its commitment to student learning. Judith Grunert’s book, The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach, helps "frame the process" for developing a student-centered syllabus and answer the question, "What do students need to know in order to derive maximum benefit from this educational experience." Part I of the book discusses the implications of a learning-centered approach to both students and faculty. This section describes a process to plan a learning-centered syllabus that includes well-articulated sections to: <learn more>

Blackboard Tip
By Ireta Ekstrom
As we near the end of a semester, many faculty like to copy their class materials forward into the next semester. While this is a dynamite method of saving time, do be cautious if you have any content that has dates. Keep the new course unavailable until you have time to change all of the dates. For example, if you use Adaptive Release, make sure the originating course material is set to unavailable, copy the material forward into the new course and then change the date options for the individual pieces of the series. Any date-timed quizzes, assessments, assignments and announcements that are moved must also have each date changed.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone. I hope you all had a nice break and are ready to add some new equipment to your ever-expanding toolkit for teaching. Our article this month is on learning contracts. The authors (Stacey and Halliday) define and provide practical tips as well as useful insight for how they implemented learning contracts in their classes. <learn more>

The Learning Contract – Student Course Management Tool
Dr. Michael J. Stacey and Professor Robert M. Halliday
For many years we had mixed results as we taught in several different colleges and universities using the tried and true methods of lectures, tests and papers. In some cases the students tried to please us and produce a good product (papers) or a good grade (on tests). Yet we didn’t see much real learning on their part either in class or in their life outside of school. We also did not see much transference between courses. We did see students who appeared to be bored with the topics and not personally motivated by course content. We realized that there had to be a better way to teach the required material so they could use it either in the class itself or applications outside of class. The learning contract was created to help students discover their interests in the course, offer increasing self-directed responsibility and provide them with a dynamic tool to manage their own work.<learn more>

Blackboard Tips
By Ireta Ekstrom
Some instructors prefer for students to see their own scores but not the class average in their Gradebook. This can be for several reasons, for example an instructor may wish to hide the scores until all grades are entered.

Blackboard has now added a feature that allows an instructor to hide the class average (the default setting is to display the average). To activate this feature, click on Control Panel --> Gradebook --> Gradebook Settings --> Spreadsheet Settings. Then Under Section 2, "My Grades Display Options," uncheck "Display Average Score."

The setting applies to all Gradebook items, not an individual assignment or assessment and applies to both the "My Grades" view within a course as well as the "View Grades" link accessible from the student's Bb welcome page.

Invitation to Review
Like to get free books?  Simply request one of the following titles and write a short review for Teaching Central. You help your colleagues and you get a free book. Or if you know of a book you would like to review that pertains to improving teaching, forward the title and ISBN to Ireta Ekstrom at ekstr1i@cmich.edu and FaCIT will purchase it for you.

• College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh
• Effective College Learning by Jodi Patrick Holschuh and Sherrie L. Nist
• Online Student Skills and Strategies Handbook by Loyd R. Ganey, Frank L. Christ, and Victor R. Hurt
• Professors as Writers by Robert Boice.
• Service-Learning: Research to Advance the field edited by Marshall Welch and Shelly H. Billig.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
I don't know about you, but temperatures hovering around zero just make me want to curl up by the fire and read a good book. With that cozy picture in mind, check out our list of books to review – maybe one will catch your eye. We'll send the book on to you and the book is free – all we ask is a one to two page review. <learn more>

Book Review
Dan Gall
It is easy to dismiss Teaching & Learning Through Inquiry, edited by Virginia S. Lee, as too many words on what should be a pretty obvious idea.  The book is a record of North Carolina State University's grant-funded Inquiry Guided Learning program, which promotes the idea that students learn better if they can explore a topic and come to their own conclusions rather than simply be told an answer. The main value lies in the chapters describing how student support offices and academic programs implemented Inquiry Guided Learning in their areas. <learn more>

The Role of Learning Styles in Effective Teaching
Nancy Csapo, Ph.D., Business Information Systems Department
Shulman (1987) identifies the three major elements of effective teaching as:  (1) content knowledge; (2) pedagogical knowledge; and (3) knowledge of learners and their characteristics.  Increasing knowledge in any of these areas can improve teaching effectiveness: this includes an expanded study of learning style theory. <learn more>

Blackboard Tips
Dropping the lowest score
There is no way to automatically drop the lowest scores in Bb. However, I have found that there are two easy methods of handling this task.

1. If your Gradebook is not weighted, you can manually drop the lowest scores by clicking on an individual score and then clicking on "Clear Attempt." In Blackboard's Gradebook, blank scores are considered to be excused absences and are not counted towards the final grade (a zero will calculate as a score). To do this: 1) click on the "Running Total" score column, 2) click on "Item Information", 3) check the "Yes" for "Exempt items that have not been graded" and then 4) make sure the "Display As" pull-down list is either Percentage or Letter.

• Another method is to download your Gradebook to Excel (for directions, click here), calculate the grades and sort lowest to highest. This allows you to drop the lowest grade for a given category.  Then a new column called "final grade" can be created (be sure to go to Gradebook, manage items, click  the modify button for that column and click "no" for “include item in Gradebook score calculations so this number will not be counted in the total score.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
The sun is shining and I can see students briskly moving toward classes: Ahh, what a beautiful winter day here in Mid-Michigan. <learn more>

E Feedback for E Assignments
David Lloyd, PhD
Imagine if you will for a moment, that you have lost one of your primary senses – sight, hearing or touch.  This loss of sensory feedback will have a significant effect on how you interact and respond to the world.  A similar lack of feedback from teachers can be a significant factor in whether students are ultimately successful in their courses and program. <learn more>

Tracking Changes and Adding Comments in Microsoft Word
Sara Scoby, Classroom Technology Specialist, FaCIT

Microsoft Word's Track Changes and Comments feature is an excellent resource to use when reviewing student assignments. This tool assists faculty by allowing them to review a document, make changes to it, add comments, and then send it back to a student who can then either accept or reject the changes. <learn more>

Book Review*
The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach by Judith Grunert
Reviewed by Jan Keith Farmer

Across the country colleges and universities are changing their focus from what faculty teach to what students learn. A learning-centered course syllabus can help students understand their expanded role and provide faculty an opportunity for scholarly reflection as higher education continues to transform its commitment to student learning. Judith Grunert's book, The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach, helps "frame the process" for developing a student-centered syllabus and answer the question, "What do students need to know in order to derive maximum benefit from this educational experience." <learn more>

BlackBoard Tips
Using Gradebook for Items That Do Not Impact Final Score

To put a column in the Gradebook that does not impact the overall total points (for bonus points/extra credit or attendance, for example), follow these directions.

• Enter your class, click on control panel and Gradebook.
• Click "add item" and fill in the required information.
• For points possible, enter 0.0 and click no for "Include item in Gradebook score calculations."
• You can also choose whether to make the item visible to users or keep it visible only for instructors/teaching assistants.

When you grade the bonus assignment, you can place points into the column, however they do not calculate into the total points.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
Technology is being used increasingly in our society and the university classroom is no exception.  Many professors already make effective use of tools and software such as computers, visualizers, video/DVD players, PowerPoint and Blackboard. One of the newer forms of utilizing technology in education is podcasting class lectures. The feature article this month is “iPODing Education” by FaCIT director Todd Zakrajsek.  It is time to open a dialogue about podcasting’s impact on the learning environment. Please let me know if it is something you want to try in one of your classes. <learn more>

iPODing Education
Todd Zakrajsek, Director of FaCIT
Technology-enhanced education is the wave of the future, and we need to learn to surf or risk drowning.  Most faculty know from personal experience that students get frustrated quickly when they understand technology to a greater extent than faculty.  Just witness a class where a faculty member can’t get a mediated classroom computer to work with PowerPoint. This is not justification for avoiding technology, but a caution to enter cautiously.  <learn more>

Book Review
Blueprint for Learning: Constructing College Courses to Facilitate, Assess and Document Learning by Dr. Laurie Richlin

Dr. Laurie Richlin is Director of the Preparing Future Faculty Program at Claremont Graduate University in California and Director of the Lilly West Conference on College and University Teaching. <learn more>

Tricks of the Trade
If students receive a failing grade or an incomplete, the current course management system automatically disables them from the class. This can be a problem if they want to complete the work since they can no longer access the class. You can, however, have them reinstated by providing their name, global ID and the course name and number to Jeremy Bond or Ireta Ekstrom.

Books to Review
We frequently come across new books that hold promise for improving teaching. We would like to offer you the opportunity to read a book and write a short (300-500 word) review for this newsletter. In return, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book you reviewed. Titles on our shelf now include:

College Success Strategies by Sherrie L. Nist and Jodi Patrick Holschuh

Online Student Skills and Strategies Handbook by Loyd R. Ganey, Frank L. Christ and Victor R. Hurt

Public Work and the Academy edited by Mark Langseth and William M. Plater

Service-Learning: Research to Advance the field edited by Marshall Welch and Shelly H. Billig

Email Ireta Ekstrom (ekstr1i@cmich.edu) to reserve your first and second choices of titles. Please remember to include your address.

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
This month's newsletter is focusing on adult learners. Jennifer Cochran and Shelly Boardman have written an article for us titled Using Rubrics to Effect Authentic Assessment of Adult Learners. We also have a book review of Ronald Berk's book, Professors are from Mars, Students are from Snickers by Jay Griesser. <learn more>

Using Rubrics to Effect Authentic Assessment of Adult Learners
Jennifer P. Cochran
Shelly M. Boardman
What are Authentic Assessments?
Authentic assessments are engaging, meaningful problems or tasks that match the content and authentic outcomes of instruction. They are multistage demonstrations of knowing what and knowing how and emphasize product and process, conveying that both development and achievement matter. "Authentic assessments incorporate a wide variety of techniques 'designed to correspond as closely as possible to 'real world' student experiences" (Custer, 1994, p. 66; Rudner and Boston, 1994). <learn more>

Book Review
Professors are from Mars Students are from Snickers by Ronald A. Berk
Book Review by Jay Griesser

Ron Berk, the author of Professors are from Mars Students are from Snickers, is a Professor of Biostatistics and Measurement and Assistant Dean for Teaching in the School of Nursing at The Johns Hopkins University. <learn more>

Tip of the Trade
If you find that your navigation button list in your class does not quite meet your requirements, you can modify the number, names and order of those buttons. This can be extremely helpful for tailoring each course to your specific needs. <learn more>

Notes and News
By Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
Time management, a topic near and dear to all of us, is the September theme of Teaching Central. This issue contains an article filled with tips and tricks to help you manage your time more effectively, a book review of Robert Leamnson’s Thinking About Teaching and Learning, information about CMU’s new course numbering system, an invitation to a First Friday with the topic of Double Scholarship: Balancing Research & Teaching, and some helpful resources from the FaCIT website.

One of the things I love about this position  is the variety of opportunities I have available each semester. This Fall I am teaching my first CMU class (FYE101). <learn more>

Time Management: A Balancing Act
Ireta Ekstrom
Time is one of the most important commodities we have and we all struggle to manage it.  For most faculty, the combination of many worthwhile projects and very little organizational structure starts us down a very busy path.  Toss in a poor record of saying “no” to new and exiting projects and we end up stretched to the limits.  Unless you desire to devote your life to the unimportant/urgent quadrant of life, you need to find a way to keep focused and on track.  <learn more>

Book Review
Thinking About Teaching and Learning by Robert Leamnson
Reviewed by Angela M. McGuirk
Robert Leamnson’s Thinking About Teaching and Learning (Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2001) delves into how university faculty (especially those teaching first year students) can develop and promote habits of learning.  In this book he utilizes recent discoveries about the biological basis of learning and his own definitions of teaching, learning, and education to offer practical advice and insight in classroom techniques that can be used in and out of the classroom.  <learn more>

Tip of the Trade
Course IDs in Blackboard will be changing as a result of the implementation of SAP Campus Management (CM).  Currently, course IDs appear as course designator, hyphen, 3-digit semester/term number, hyphen, and 5-digit course reference number.  <learn more>

Resources @ FAcit.cmich.edu
Classroom Assessment Techniques are proven methods of quickly determining of your students are actually learning the material. One of the best features of CATS is that both you and your students understand when it’s time to move to the next topic without a major quiz or test. This article will provide you some of the best.

Notes and News
by Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
There is always such a sense of anticipation when beginning something new. I hope you are enjoying that feeling as we move into the beginning the new school year. Even though I’ve been working all summer I share that sense of new beginnings as both faculty and students have migrated back to the campus. <learn more>

The First Day of Class
Todd Zakrajsek, Director, FaCIT
In many respects, the first day of class is the most important day of the entire semester. It is certainly the only chance you will have to make a good first impression. In preparing for that first day, there are a few things to keep in mind. <learn more>

Book Review
Advice for New Faculty Members: Nihil Numus by Robert Boice
Reviewed by Stephanie Mathson.
Robert Boice's Advice for New Faculty Members is a straightforward guide for new professors (or novices, as Boice refers to them) to follow in order to achieve success from the very start of our careers. As its subtitle suggests (nothing in excess), Boice states that moderation is the key to successfully managing the aspects of one’s career that are evaluated for tenure (or continuing appointment): Teaching, Writing, and Service. <learn more>

Tip of the Trade
You may have noticed that with the upgrade to Blackboard 7.1 that the digital drop box has disappeared. BlackBoard has provided an improved method of receiving assignments through the system so the drop box has been eliminated. You will probably notice that some of the new features also save time. <learn more>

Resources @ FaCIT.cmich.edu
FaCIT's website, has a number of great articles devoted to improving teaching and improving student learning. Two seem especially appropriate this month as CMU begins the 2006-2007 academic year.

The first article is What is Your Classroom Management Style? This link will take you to a self-assessment where you can discover your classroom management profile. Are you authoritarian, authoritative, laissez-faire or indifferent?

Another link that seems appropriate for the beginning of a new year is Difficult Behaviors in the Classroom which identifies nine difficult classroom behaviors and gives some ideas about how to respond to each one.

Notes and News
by Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone,
I hope your summer has been both relaxing and productive. Since you are probably thinking about your fall classes, this month's Teaching Central is focusing on Motivation. ... <learn more>

Student Assessment Resources and Links
By Denise Webster
Assessment of student learning has been part of higher education since the early eighties, yet it continues to be a major issue and concern for higher education. All regional accrediting bodies, as well as many disciplinary and professional accrediting associations, have incorporated student learning outcomes assessment activities into their criteria for accreditation and reaffirmation of accreditation. There is a substantial body of literature that supports the value and importance of outcomes assessment. Because of this, outcomes assessment continues to grow. ... <learn more>

Book Review
Learning and Motivation in the Postsecondary Classroom
Book Review By Tanya M. Marcum

Summary of the Book

This book takes a look at the way most students learn and process new information. The book applies findings and theories of educational psychology to the faculty of higher education. Both cognitive and constructivism educational theories are discussed and then applied to the higher education classroom. The major sections of the book revolve around the kinds of learning questions and tasks that confront most of us in our classrooms. It then looks at ways to motivate students in the classroom. ... <learn more>

Motivation in the Classroom
By Ireta Ekstrom, PhD
Our perfect student: chooses to come to every class (with the material read); participates enthusiastically in class discussions; asks pertinent, probing questions; persists even when having difficulty; does well on our tests; and even laughs at our jokes. Oh, and never asks, "Is this going to be on the test?" There is no doubt that this student will have academic success. ... <learn more>

Tip of the Trade
Did you know that if you just close your access to BlackBoard by clicking that little "X”"that you are not logged off the system? This could have serious implications if you are on a public computer or someone else uses yours. Always click on "logout" to make sure you are completely closed down.

Notes and News
by Ireta Ekstrom
Hello and welcome to the June issue of Teaching Central. Our features this month focus on evaluating and improving courses and scholarship... <learn more>

Connecting Program Outcomes Assessment with Designing and Improving Courses and Curricula by Denise Webster
How can we make program assessment work for us in designing courses and curricula? There is a multitude of excellent resources to assist faculty with answering this question... <learn more>

Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, 11th edition by Wilbert J. McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki
Book Review by Mary Lee Swickert
I received a copy of the 9th edition of McKeachie's Teaching Tips when I began teaching master's level students at Northern Illinois University during my doctoral studies. Since I was trained as a teacher and had taught all grades K - 16, I was a little put-off by being given the textbook. In 1994, it had already been 43 years since the book was written. I thought, "Can this possibly be relevant after all these years?" My mentor considered the book invaluable and soon I found out why. Now in the 12th edition, 55 years after it was written, the text remains a highly regarded classic for college level teachers and a recommended resource for teachers everywhere... <learn more>

Tips of the Trade:
Keeping course material organized is a great asset of BlackBoard. You can create folders for sections by week or content then add items in each folder to make it easy for students to find the appropriate information.

Below are links to print and movie tutorials for Adding Folders and Adding Items to your BlackBoard shell.

To Add a Folder (print)

To Add a Folder (movie)

To Add an Item (print)

To Add an Item (movie)

Notes and News
by Ireta Ekstrom
This month's Teaching Central is focused on Service Learning. CMU has a strong component of service learning throughout the university and we are capturing a few pieces for you this month. ... <learn more>

Service Learning in Central Michigan University's Teacher Education Program
By Thomas P. Kromer, CMU Teacher Education & Professional Development
Service learning started in the teacher education program at CMU during the spring semester of 1993. The university had been awarded a small Michigan Campus Compact grant to start service learning. During the first semester eight student teachers were given instruction and attended a full day workshop on service learning provided by the teachers from Bloomfield Hills Schools. At the time one of the few school systems in the state that promoted service learning in their K-12 curriculum and had a service requirement for graduation. ... <learn more>

What is Service Learning?
By James McDonald, CMU Teacher Education & Professional Development

Service-Learning is an experiential teaching method that intentionally integrates academic learning and relevant community service.

Through providing service for a community agency or school, students take part in activities in which both the server and those being served teach and learn. Students, faculty, and community members are interconnected partners and each play a critical part in this dynamic process. ... <learn more>

A Working Definition and Model of Service-Learning
By James McDonald, CMU Teacher Education & Professional Development

A conference of service-learning "pioneers" held in 1995 (Service-Learning: A Movement's Pioneers Reflect on its Origins, Practice, and the Future, Stanton, Giles, & Cruz: 1995) determined that there were two primary strands that came together in service-learning. A number of proponents saw the practice as a way of addressing issues of social and economic justice. Others saw the practice as a way of transforming our educational institutions. It is safe to say that most of the pioneers were interested in both strands and their common thread: the strengthening of democracy. ... <learn more>

Reflective Assessment
By Lynn Dominguez, CMU Recreation Parks and Leisure Services

The decision to use reflection as an assessment tool is one that requires prior planning and thought. The teacher must first decide on the method of reflection to be used. Students might be asked to record thoughts, observations, feelings, activities, and questions in a written journal that is maintained throughout the project period. Projects that require a team approach may use a team journal to ensure interaction within the group. Students can be assigned a paper to write based on their journal or engage in class discussions to encourage critical thinking about their project. Whatever method or methods are selected must be based on the project outcomes defined early in the planning process. In addition, the teacher must decide on two critical elements for using reflection as an assessment tool. The first is to determine if the reflective piece will be assigned a grade or simply be completed by the student. The second decision to be made involves the amount and type of structure or guidance to be provided for the reflection assignment. ... <learn more>

Service-learning as Evidence for Program-level Assessment
By Denise Webster, Curriculum and Assessment

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. According to Eyler & Giles (1999), service-learning is ... <learn more>

Resources @ FaCIT.cmich.edu on Service Learning

FaCIT's website is a valuable source of information. It contains links for internal and external collections of information for improving student learning. You can find this resource at this link.

Awards, Commendations and Honors . . .

To Michigan Campus Compact's Service-Learning Award Recipient

Tim Otteman, Assistant Professor of Recreation, Parks and Leisure Services Administration at Central Michigan University was recently honored with a 2006 Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award as the faculty/staff person on campus who has made the most outstanding contributions in community service-learning.

To Teaching in Excellence Award Recipients

Special congratulations, also to the following faculty for being Central Michigan University's 2006 Teaching in Excellence award recipients.

Judy Chandler, physical education and sport was recognized for her passion for her profession, her students and for teaching.

Joseph Finck, physics was honored for his ability to create intellectual excitement in the classroom and for his creative teaching style.

Holly Hoffman, counseling and special education was recognized for being a dedicated, effective teacher who ensures students are engaged, actively participating and learning.

Susan Steffel, English was recognized for her effectiveness as an educator, role model and mentor.

Suzanne Woods, communication disorders was honored for her ability to creatively engage students in learning

Notes and News
by Ireta Ekstrom
Hello everyone, Welcome to the March Issue of Teaching Central. We have our usual compendium of articles, book reviews and tips for you. ... <learn more>

First Order Principles for College Teachers by Robert Boice
Book Review by Ireta Ekstrom
Robert Boice has written a most unusual time management book. Instead of focusing on office-organizing/folder-creation-filing principles, he has actually focused on the larger issues. What does it take to be an excellent professor and scholar?... <learn more>

Focus on Learning
By Denise Webster
The 'FOCUS' of this on-going feature in Teaching Central is to highlight methods, stimulate ideas, encourage discussions and provide resources for faculty and staff wanting to promote a student-focused learning culture. Each feature will address topics regarding the role of assessment, in particular program-level assessment, and how it contributes to the development of a student-focused learning culture... <learn more>

Tips of the Trade
COURSE COPY

One of the nice features of Blackboard is the ability to copy all or part of a course into another course shell. This is especially helpful if you teach the same course more than once a year, in succeeding years, multiple times in a semester or want to re-use learning materials in more than one place... <learn more>

Notes and News
by Ireta Ekstrom
Welcome to the February Issue of Teaching Central. You may notice as you read through this issue that we have concentrated on classroom. ... <learn more>

Workshop: Classroom Assessment Tips:  How to Quickly Determine What Your Students Are Learning
Todd Zakrajsek, Director of the Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching, will conduct a workshop on Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) ... <learn more>

Tips of the Trade: Using Question Pools
A question pool is a large number of test questions that can be configured differently each time a test is constructed. Using question pools in BlackBoard can give you greater flexibility for two types of assessments. You can build practice assessments so students can evaluate their knowledge before a test or you can use them to create graded assessments. ... <learn more>

Classroom Assessment Techniques from a Students’ Perspective
By: Amanda Archer
Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) are methods or techniques used to assess student learning quickly and easily throughout the course. CATs assess many types of knowledge such as previous knowledge, current knowledge, application of knowledge, unknown or unclear knowledge, and self-knowledge. There are many different methods that an instructor can use to assess students’ knowledge, but from a graduate and undergraduate student’s perspective there are some techniques that work to help students learn the material and learn about their learning. Knowing what your students are learning is an extremely important element of being a successful instructor. ... <learn more>

Book Review
Assessing Student Learning: A Common Sense Guide
This book is a good summary of the major issues involved in developing a good assessment program focused on student learning. The major sections of the book are laying the foundation for assessment, planning for success, the assessment toolbox, and putting assessment results to good and appropriate use. ... <learn more>

New @ Teaching Central
Article by Ireta Ekstrom
January 2006
Hello from the newest member of the Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching! I am excited to be part of the Center and of Central Michigan University. My goal as editor is to have this newsletter reflect the best and most current information about teaching and learning. ... <learn more>

Interview with Bill Low
Interview by Ireta Ekstrom
January 2006
Bill Low, recently retired Instructional Developer, was kind enough to answer a few questions about his professional life here at Central Michigan University and his plans for the future... <learn more>

A New Weapon Against Plagiarism
Article by Jeremy Bond
January 2006
One need not look far to find the opinion that plagiarism is an increasingly common problem in higher education. Technologies available in our current 'information age' not only make it far easier for students to plagiarize work, intentionally and unintentionally, but vastly more difficult for instructors to detect. Faculty and students returning to CMU in the fall found a new tool available to them in the fight against plagiarism... <learn more>

Book Review
Adult Learners in the Academy
Review by Todd Wilmore
January 2006
The book was written for those seeking an honest and compelling view of adult learning framed in the context of universities. Doctor Lee Bash describes the complexity of the adult learner... <learn more>

Coming Soon to Blackboard!
Article by : Jeremy Bond
August 2005
New features and much needed improvements expected soon! <learn more>

What Floats Your Boat?
Article by : Michael Gilbert
August 2005
People are complex individuals. We each have different preferences for how we take in an