October 2015 Volume 1, Number 2
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Welcome to Faculty
Learning!
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Teaching and Learning
Funding Opportunities
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Pedagogy Tip: IF-AT
Scratch-Off Quizzes
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FRC Library Spotlight:
Academic Writing and
Publishing
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Faculty Learning From
Around the Internet
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Remember
Thank you for reading “Faculty Learning,” the monthly e-Newsletter published by the Faculty Resource Center. In it, you will find out what’s going on in the world of faculty development at Ramapo and across the country.
As always, be sure to check out the FRC website to see what upcoming programs are being offered! www.ramapo.edu/FRC
Full-Time Faculty: Professional Development
http://www.ramapo.edu/FRC nsalter@ramapo.edu
The Office of the Provost has received $50,000 in SPIF funding to increase full-time faculty’s participation in professional development in the areas of teaching and learning. The following criteria and procedures will be applied in distributing these funds:
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Up to $25,000 will be available each semester.
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Funding will be limited up to $2,100 per grant.
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Proposals are to be submitted to the dean and will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
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The existing Travel Request form should be used and should include an agenda for the event to be attended. Please note to the dean that you are requesting teaching and learning funding.
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Grants will be awarded exclusively for attendance at events primarily devoted to teaching and learning.
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Grants may not be used to supplement regular faculty travel funds.
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Faculty will be required to report out to the Unit or Convening
Group on new ideas or materials resulting from the funded experience.
Adjunct Faculty: Professional Development
The Office of the Provost has secured $25,000 in funding ($12,500 for fall
2015 and $12,500 for spring 2016) to be used to compensate adjuncts with a current teaching assignment at Ramapo College for attendance at professional development opportunities offered by the College. The classes or seminars are currently being offered by the Faculty Resource
Center, (FRC) and the Instructional Design Center (IDC).

Interested applicants should review these offerings and select one or two that will enhance their expertise in teaching and learning. If you are interested in more than one opportunity, please prioritize your selections in your application to the dean of the school in which you are teaching.
Each course will be reimbursed at $30 per hour of attendance. Since this is a pilot program with a set amount of funds, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Applicants are encouraged to apply early by sending an email to your dean indicating which class or seminar you wish to attend and the anticipate time that will be compensated and requesting the dean’s support.
Latin American Travel
15 grants of up to $2,000 will be awarded to full-time faculty for travel to or related to Latin America. The following criteria and procedures will be applied in distributing these funds:
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Proposals will be vetted by the dean, recommended by Deans’
Council, and funded by the Provost.
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Proposals will be reviewed by Deans’ Council on a rolling basis.
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Proposals may involve scholarship, teaching and learning, or service/civic engagement in and/or involving Latin America.
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Proposals should be submitted to the dean on the Travel Request form with an agenda or a narrative attached.
An end of the year reception will be held for grant awardees at which time awardees will report out on their funded work related to Latin America.
(This information is reprinted from an email sent to campus from the
Office of the Provost on September 4, 2015).
Need to spice up your multiple-choice quizzes? Try scratch offs! The FRC can provide Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) scratchoff scantron sheets, enabling students to instantly know if their answers are right or wrong. For each quiz question, there are 4 or 5 options (i.e.,
A, B, C, D, or E) that the student can scratch off. If the student scratches the correct option, a star is revealed to indicate it is the correct answer.
Not only does this tool eliminate grading times and delay, it increases the fun factor of your quizzes (as several faculty members have discovered). If it works for the New Jersey Lottery, it can work for you!
For more information about IF-AT forms (as well as video demonstrations of how they work), check out the website: http://epsteineducation.com
If you would like to use IF-AT forms in your class, please contact the FRC
Director Nick Salter nsalter@ramapo.edu
for your free forms.
This Pedagogy Tip is brought to you by Mark Skowronski, Assistant
Professor of Management (ASB), mskowron@ramapo.edu
. If you have a
Pedagogy Tip you think others would benefit from, please contact the FRC
Director Nick Salter nsalter@ramapo.edu
– you could be in an upcoming issue of Faculty Learning!

Do you want to be a better and more prolific academic writer? Do you find it difficult to find time for your scholarly writing – is it always on the bottom of your to-do list? Often times we find research, writing, and publishing to be something that we never seem to get to – either because we have too many teaching and service commitments . . . or because we don’t have good strategies for writing efficiently and effectively. There are many guides written to help academics such as us become better writers; for instance, these books talk about what makes academic writing good as well as strategies you can implement to get your writing done quickly, resulting in a strong finished product.
The FRC library has many books on this topic, including:
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Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing (by Patricia Goodson) http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Academic-Writer-Exercises-
Productive/dp/1452203865/
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Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic
Publishing Success (by Wendy Laura Belcher) http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Journal-Article-Twelve-
Weeks/dp/141295701X/
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Write It Up: Practical Strategies for Writing and Publishing Journal
Articles (by Paul Silvia) http://www.amazon.com/Write-Practical-Strategies-Publishing-
Lifetools/dp/1433818140/
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How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic
Writing (by Paul Silvia) http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Lot-Practical-
Productive/dp/1591477433/
Anyone is welcome to borrow a book from the library – stop by sometime!
Also: we take requests! The FRC is happy to purchase any books for the library that you think would be useful to the Ramapo community. The
FRC library also has many other books on all sorts of topics related to pedagogy, learning, and academia – come check it out!
Lecture Me. Really . (from the New York Times)
Recently, the New York Times published an Op-Ed defending the use of lectures in college classrooms. This elicited a strong response from many as it argued against many principles that are popular in modern education (such as active and participatory learning). What do you think? Can lectures be appropriate teaching tools? http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/opinion/sunday/lecture-mereally.html

Make Your Office Hours a Requirement (from The Chronicle of Higher
Education)
As much research shows (and is discussed in this post), there are many benefits to students who show up to office hours. However, many students don’t take advantage of office hours (for a variety of reasons). This posts suggests ways in which you can structure your class to increase attendance at your office hours. https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1167-make-your-office-hours-arequirement
Nine Ways to Improve Class Discussions (from the Faculty Focus Teaching
Professor Blog)
When students don’t talk during class discussions, it can be very uncomfortable for both the students and for the instructor. What can you do? This post has nine specific concrete ideas you can try in your class to get the students to engage more in a lively and spirited class discussion. http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/nineways-to-improve-class-discussions/
As always, keep in mind that the FRC is here to help you. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Director, Nick Salter, nsalter@ramapo.edu