ISSUE
07
April
2010
NTLC Reports
Nakatani Teaching
& Learning Center
at UW-Stout
z
NTLC’s MayDay, 2010…
Date: May 24, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
MayDay is a mini-conference for innovation in teaching and learning, sponsored
by the Nakatani Teaching and Learning Center. Sessions will be one hour long. A
session will consist either of three-closely related presentations of 15 minutes each,
or a group-panel reporting on various aspects of a joint project. Most sessions
feature presenters who have worked on projects sponsored by NTLC or by the
UW-Stout Ethics Center.
Audience: All UW-Stout faculty and staff are invited. Also invited will be
instructors from UW-Barron County, UW-River Falls, and UW-Eau Claire.
Food is available throughout the day. The billboards say of Stout, “Innovators
Wanted.” We rounded the innovators up and here they are.
NTLC Vision
Statement . . .
The Nakatani Teaching and
Learning Center nourishes a
campus culture of learning and
teaching characterized by
discovery, curiosity, innovation,
collaboration and research.
NTLC Mission
Statement . . .
The mission of the Nakatani
Teaching and Learning Center is
to share and value teaching and
learning. Programs sponsored by
the NTLC will especially
support the University’s
priorities, its Enduring Goals,
and the mission of the NTLC.
For the schedule of sessions please visit:
http://www3.uwstout.edu/ntlc/upload/MayDaySchedule2010.pdf
Expectations and Motivations Sharing
Community…
Facilitators: Laura Schmidt (schmidtlaur@uwstout.edu)
Juli Taylor (TaylorJu@uwstout.edu)
Faculty and instructors from various departments meet to discuss the issue of student
motivation and effectively communicating course expectations. Specific focus has
been on the disconnect between learner expectations and instructor perceptions of
what those expectations should be. When learner and instructor expectations do not
match, problems could arise. Juli Taylor stated, “In my syllabus I list out the course
expectations I have for my students, but also tell them the hopes and expectations I
have for them beyond course objectives. Expectations for the instructor are also
addressed. This way the students know upfront what my hopes are for them and
myself.”
Members in the group share ideas on how to improve communication with students
and motivate them to succeed. Laura Schmidt reported, “Increasing communication
with students has allowed me to find disconnects [in expectations] and adjust them
right away. My classroom is an open environment where students can voice their
suggestions.”
Currently, student expectations are being collected through a survey created by
Taylor. Schmidt, Taylor and other members of this sharing community will discuss
findings and implications at NTLC’s MayDay.
Nakatani Teaching and Learning Center • U W‐Stout • tlcenter@uwstout.edu • 715‐232‐5196 or 715‐232‐1131 http://www3.uwstout.edu/ntlc/ 2010 April Newsletter
University of Wisconsin-Stout
News from Doc…
Doc, I spend so
much time
grading! Do
you have any
suggestions?
Keep a time log
for a semester!
Record each
assignment
graded and how
much time was
spent on it.
For example, 10
hard copy
journals given
comments and a
grade in 75
minutes.
Now you know if
you are spending
too much time
grading one
assignment
and can change
as appropriate!
Summer Institutes at Stout…
June 10, 2010
Applied Humanities
Dr. Svetlana Nikitina will be coming to UW-Stout on
June10, 2010, to talk about experiential and applied learning in
the humanities. Nikitina is looking for instructors who are
willing to redesign a course or design an assignment that
includes experiential elements. Instructors participating will be
implementing the assignment or designed course in the Fall
of 2010 and will report findings during the January 2011
professional development week. For more information please
visit the NTLC Website: http://www3.uwstout.edu/ntlc/
June 15, 2010
Advanced Assessment: Is it Working? Resolving
Problems
Barbara Walvoord is coming back to UW-Stout to offer a
follow-up workshop on June 15, 2010, for instructors who attended
her previous workshop. During the morning, participants will explore time‐efficient ways to determine whether a particular pedagogical strategy is working well in their own classrooms, and how to make their strategies optimally effective and minimally time‐consuming. During the afternoon, participants
will discuss questions the group raises: for example, how to
manage peer feedback, group projects, online classes, classroom
discussion, grading, keeping the paper load down, or responding
to student work. June 16, 2010
Assessment Institute- Assignments, Tests, and Grades: More
Learning, Less Time
Using Facebook to Teach…
Facebook is a well known social networking site
commonly used by people of all ages. The
popularity of this website has sparked various
ideas on how to utilize its features. Businesses
use it for advertisements, artists use it for
promotions, and instructors are beginning to use
it to teach.
After exploring the many options Facebook
offers, creating a ‘secret group’ was deemed the
most appropriate for supporting a course.
Instructors can create a secret group and invite all
of the students enrolled in the class to join. The
appeal of creating a ‘secret’ group versus a
‘public’ or ‘closed’ group, is that group members
must be invited to join and the group cannot be
searched. If students become members of a secret
group it is not visible in their profile, so
membership is completely private.
Once students become a member, they gain
access to recent news content, discussion boards,
wall content, photos, posted items, videos and
any related comments of those items.
For further questions or comments please contact Dan
Riordan (RiordanD@uwstout.edu) or Kelly Zeman
(NTLC Graduate Assistant; zemanke@uwstout.edu).
Barbara Walvoord is offering a workshop on June 16, 2010, to discuss how to make courses more time-efficient for
instructors and more productive for student learning. Participants will be asked to re-evaluate one of their courses
and, if needed, revise the course. Some elements of a course that may be revised could include: course learning goals,
assignments and tests, criteria and standards for grading, preparing students for class, making class time most
effective, and saving time with the grading process.
Nakatani Teaching and Learning Center • U W‐Stout • tlcenter@uwstout.edu • 715‐232‐5196 or 715‐232‐1131 http://www3.uwstout.edu/ntlc/