iTIE Springing Towards Teaching Excellence Ashfaq Bengali, Khadija - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Ashfaq Bengali, Khadija Mahsud, Amy Hodges

iTIE – Springing Towards Teaching Excellence

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Center for Teaching and Learning

Ex Execu cuti tive Di Director Center for

• r Teaching and

nd Learning Dr

• Dr. Ha

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Dire rector tor Academ emic Suc uccess Co Colla labo bora rativ tive

• Dr. LeeAnn Rudd

Eng Engin inee eerin ring Enr nric ichm hment t Progra ram Manager

• Dr. Yasser Al-Hamidi

Adm dmin inis istra trativ tive Co Coor

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Vanessa Lina

Manager Kelly Wilson Dire rector tor of

• f Ini

nitia tiativ tive in n Teachin ing Inn nnov

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tion and nd Excel elle lenc nce

• Dr. Ashfaq Bengali

Updated January 2017 Student Enhancement Specialist Sahar Mari Student tutors Part-time adult tutors Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator

• Dr. Amy Hodges

Instructional Consultant Khadija Mahsud Scholastic Performance Specialist Lana El Ladki

iTIE

• iTIE Mission
• Support and encourage faculty and teaching staff in the development of innovative,

student-centered methodologies to improve learning.

• What it is not
• Not involved in the departmental evaluation of faculty teaching.
• Not a penalty box.
• How will iTIE support its mission?
• Organize activities, provide ideas and resources to help faculty and teaching staff at

TAMUQ achieve teaching excellence.

• Promote and highlight teaching successes at TAMUQ.
• Establish a dynamic relationship with the faculty and teaching staff.

Works with instructors and teaching staff to improve student learning

• Develops and implements teaching-related workshops, lectures, and events.

The Instructional Consultant can assist with

• Identifying opportunities for innovation in your classroom as well how to document your

teaching practice for possible research use.

• Developing measurable and easily implementable changes to create an active and

collaborative learning environment.

• Identifying mechanisms to collect and interpret student feedback in your class.
• Creating and maintaining teaching portfolios.
• Developing and enhancing the peer observation process and skills.

Khadija Mahsud is the iTIE’s Instructional Consultant. She has a Master’s in Library and Information Science, as well as three years of experience teaching and working with Aggie students.

iTIE Instructional Consultant

Why innovate?

Active learning strategies can be more effective than traditional lecture based methods.

• More than 1000 students surveyed in

an introductory mechanics course

• Pre-test given before semester begins.
• Post-test given after semester ends
• Learning gain (g) defined as:

𝑕 = 𝑞𝑝𝑡𝑢 − 𝑞𝑠𝑓 100 − 𝑞𝑠𝑓

Hoellwarth et. al. Am. J. Phys. 79, 540 (2011)

Why innovate?

• 1. Many evidence based studies suggest that incorporating active learning strategies results in:
• students learning more.
• retention of more knowledge.
• higher rates of undergraduate degree completion.
• 2. We innovate in research, why not in teaching?
• 3. We ask students to be creative, why shouldn’t we be creative in the way that information is

delivered to them?

• 1. Bradforth, S. E., Miller, E. R., Dichtel, W. R., Leibovich, A. K., Feig, A. L., Martin, J. D., Bjorkman, K. S., Schultz, Z. D., & Smith, T. L. (2015). University learning: Improve undergraduate science education, Nature,

532(7560), 282-284. doi: 10.1038/523282a

• 2. Trenshaw, K. F., Targan, D. M., & Valles, J. M. (2016). Closing the achievement gap in STEM: A two-year reform effort at Brown University. Proceedings from ASEE NE ’16: The American Society for Engineering

Education Northeast Section 2016 Conference. Kingston, Rhode Island. Available at:http://egr.uri.edu/wp-uploads/asee2016/73-1064-1-DR.pdf

• 3. Wieman C. (2015). A better way to evaluate undergraduate teaching. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 47(1), 6-15. doi:10.1080/00091383.2015.996077
• 4. Deslauriers, L., Schelew, E., Weiman, C. (2011). Improved learning in a large-enrollment physics class, Science Magazine, 332(6031), 862-864. doi: 10.1126/science.1201783
• 5. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9A13RWOs6oA (Carl Weiman)
• 6. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1J1URbdisYE (Felder)
• 7. Michael, J. (2006). Where’s the evidence that active learning works? Advances in Physiology Education, 30, 159–167. doi:10.1152/advan.00053. 2006.
• 8. Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics,

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111 (23), 8410-8415. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111

What is needed

• iTIE can only be successful if the faculty are empowered to take risks.
• A coherent set of policies is required to guide the evaluation of faculty teaching.
• Over-reliance on student evaluations in gauging effective teaching should be

reconsidered.

POLL 1. My departmental administration recognizes the importance of teaching and is supportive

• f faculty improving and changing teaching practices.

1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

• 2. Campus administration at TAMUQ recognizes the importance of teaching and is

supportive of faculty improving and changing teaching practices. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

• 3. Instructors in my department believe that ongoing improvement in teaching is part of

their job. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

• 4. In my opinion, effective teaching plays a meaningful role in the annual review and salary

processes at TAMUQ. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

POLL

• 1. My departmental administration recognizes the importance of teaching and is

supportive of faculty improving and changing teaching practices. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

• 2. Campus administration at my university recognizes the importance of teaching

and is supportive of faculty improving and changing teaching practices. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

• 3. Instructors in my department believe that ongoing improvement in teaching is

part of their job. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree)

• 4. In my opinion, effective teaching plays a meaningful role in the annual review

and salary processes at my university. 1 2 3 4 (Strongly Disagree) (Disagree) (Agree) (Strongly agree) Mean response from 1000 instructors at 51 research universities

• Proposals for transformative educational experiences for our students – high impact

learning experience, fostering such attributes as critical and creative thinking, communication skills, and intercultural engagement.

• Such experiences include, but are not limited to classroom teaching innovation,

international experiences, intercultural engagement, service learning, student-faculty research, and collaborative projects.

• Up to $80,000 in travel and operation funds and eight student-worker positions were

earmarked for the 2017-2018 cycle.

• Proposals from the current cycle also included requests for faculty summer salary

(maximum two months per proposal).

Existing Program

Transformative Educational Experience Grants

Programs being Developed under iTIE

• 1. Learning Community - year long, Fall’18 onwards
• 1 faculty from each program.
• Discuss and propose innovative teaching ideas.
• Discuss and share recent literature on how students learn (cognitive science).
• Implement changes in their classrooms and record and reflect on outcome.
• Take best practices to larger TAMUQ community.
• Make observations available to the public via publishing (scholarship of teaching

and learning)

• 2. Teaching Team – semester long
• Small group of faculty (4-6, junior faculty).
• Work as team to support one another in their growth as teachers.
• Discuss particular teaching goals for semester.
• Visit each others classes and provide constructive feedback.
• Work collectively to help each other meet teaching goals.
• Alternate between reflection/strategizing/practicing/observing.

iTiE Activities

• 3. Digital bulletin board
• Bi-weekly or monthly prompt.
• TAMUQ wide discussion, exchange of ideas.
• Cull ideas to generate activities/approaches for wider consideration.
• 4. Lunch n’ Learn – in faculty lounge!
• Reading suggested (book, chapter, or journal article).
• Informal discussion.
• Try to develop consensus on what approaches can be implemented at TAMUQ.
• Faculty are encouraged to suggest topics as well as attend and share their experiences

around the aspect of teaching under discussion

• 5. Student Learning Focus Group
• Representation from each department.
• Discussions about how students learn best.
• Develop ideas for effective student engagement.
• iTiE brings distilled ideas to TAMUQ faculty for consideration.

iTIE Initiatives

• 6. Keynote speakers and workshops
• Invite recognized faculty experts to exchange ideas.
• Conduct periodic workshops (invited and internal) on a range of topics.
• Organize Teaching Week.
• 7. Writing Across the Curriculum
• Provide formative feedback on writing/communication assignment prompts.
• Collaborate with W course instructors on effective and efficient feedback methods.
• Consultations on writing/communication issues.
• 8. Writing research group
• Small group of faculty, researchers, and graduate students working on journal articles
• r other publications.
• Host regular writing and feedback sessions.
• Reflective discussions on how individual writing processes impact teaching practices.

Dream Big, Start Small

• 1. Teaching innovation does not necessarily involve technology but it can be an important

tool.

• 2. Start small
• Record your classroom interactions, not to share, but to watch yourself teach.
• Identify “effective” faculty in other disciplines, have them come to your class.
• Form learning communities in your classroom, organize peer to peer learning sessions.
• Provide students tips and strategies to help improve their learning.
• Do a quick “end-of-class” exit interview (anonymous) for instant feedback.

“Lead by example. When techniques work, people take notice. However, don’t only rely on teaching evaluations. Collect the data that demonstrates student learning and share it with your colleagues as well as your students [iTIE can act as repository and distributor]. Student satisfaction is not the only important criterion. We don’t hire personal trainers because it is fun to go to the gym. We hire them because they motivate us to perform beyond what we would do on our own. It may not be fun at the time and it is often hard work, but, it is the results that matter — whether it is learning in the classroom or becoming stronger through the help of a trainer.” Andrew Feig, Professor, Indiana University

Final Thought

iTIE mission cannot be accomplished without your support THANK YOU!