Renton Technical College
Office of Instructional Improvement
June 2004
Volume 2 No. 11
Here’s What Worked for Me…
Please send us tips for this section—what’s working for you—inspired by a faculty member’s suggestion that if we pooled our
strengths and creativity, it could only benefit our students.
Infectious Diseases site
Sara Covington, of the LPN Program accessed the National Institute for Health “Medmyst” site.
This online game invites students to solve mysteries about infectious diseases. The site contains a
resource page that includes printable worksheets for use in the classroom, as well as a number of
useful links for building lesson plans around infectious diseases and other health-related topics.
http://medmyst.rice.edu
Index of Internet learning sites
Debbie Crumb of the RTC Library sent us a reference to Blue Web’n a searchable library of
1800+ outstanding Internet learning sites categorized by subject area, audience, and type (lessons,
activities, projects, resources, references, and tools). Blue Web’n does not attempt to catalog all
educational sites, but only the most useful sites—especially online activities targeted at learners.
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn
Filling the Tool Box
Jamie McKenzie’s site “From Now On” is just jammed with classroom strategies
to get students to process information and ask questions. His motto is “while
curiosity may have killed the cat, there is no reason for us to kill curiosity.”
http://www.fno.org/toolbox.html
Class participation High Tech and Low Tech versions
The New York Times recently reported on a wireless keypad, linked to the computer allows students
to answer questions by punching buttons, with the results appearing on the screen in front of the
room. Shy students have no choice but to participate and the know-it-alls lose their monopoly on the
classroom dialogue. What about those of us without “caviar” budgets who want to see how many of
the students are on track? You can get the same effect by purchasing a sheet of white shower board
at the local or “big box” hardware store and have them cut it into 12” x 12” squares. You can get
about 30 boards from just one sheet of shower board. With these plus dry-erase pens you can see
feedback from the whole class. You can also order the boards from Oriental Trading Company at
$24.95 per dozen.
http://www.orientaltrading.com/otcweb/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&e
vent=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=56/7001&mode=Searching&searchDestinationJSP
=/search/searchMain.jsp
Stump the teacher
One way to get students to read and comprehend their textbook information is to play a game called
"Stump the Teacher." Give students a reading assignment to write down at least 5 questions to
“stump the teacher” along with their respective answers. Then they are ready to play the game. For
more information see.
http://www.ilovethatteachingidea.com/ideas/010424_stump_the_teacher.htm
E-mail overload
Is your in-box overloaded? Have you signed up for too many list serves? This short article from
tech-learning has some hints for organizing your e-mail:
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20300267
Making Material Relevant
We tend to remember what is important to us. Relevance trumps rote memorization. A teacher
recalls his frustration at trying to get students to memorize a nursery rhyme to recall how many days
there are in a month and how we remember only what is important to us. (Free website, requires
registration) http://www.teachermagazine.org/tmstory.cfm?slug=06First.h15
New Library Resources on Communications skills
Eric Palo of the RTC Library recommends some new resources for your communications classes:
►Belson, David Speeches for every occasion: all the words you need. (Carol Pub:1995)
808.51 BELSON
►Brounstein, Marty Communicating effectively for dummies (Hungry Minds:2001) 153.6
BROUNST 2001
►Engleberb, Isa N. Pocket Keys for Speakers. (Houghton Mifflin:c2004)
808.51 ENGEB 2004
►Rozakis, Laurie Vocabulary for dummies (Hungry Minds:2002) 428.1 ROZAKIS 2002
►Woods, Geraldine English Grammar for Dummies (Wiley:c2001) 428.24 WOODS 2001
The RTC Library is a wealth of resources: http://renton.library.ctc.edu
Alphabet Superhighway
A project of the University of Delaware, this site has an annotated list of
teacher websites, a place to develop web-based educational games, tutorials in
HTML and web design, and lots of teacher tips. Check it out at:
http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/index.html
Review new books in your field
CHOICE, a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the
American Library Association, publishes nearly 7,000 post-publication reviews annually. They need
reviewers for a number of areas including: welding, electric motors,
gas turbines, automotive technology, ventilation and air conditioning, transportation, diesel engine
technology, history and philosophy of science and technology. Reviewers are not paid; however,
they do keep the books they review. Reviewers are expected to prepare a concise work of 190 words,
and to complete the assignment within five weeks of receiving the book. Review assignments are
made at the convenience of the reviewer; reviewers inform CHOICE of the number of books they
can evaluate during any given year and their desired distribution over the year. All reviewers must be
faculty teaching at two- or four-year undergraduate institutions. An added bonus for CHOICE would
be reviewers willing to review electronic products and internet sites as well. Sign up at CHOICE's
website: http://www.choicemag.org/
Create Your Own Computer Tutorials
ScreenCorder software can help you make computer tutorials for your students. Record any desktop
activity on your screen and include voice narration or sound files. The resulting self-paced videos
(for the computer) are in Windows Media, AVI or Flash format. This is EASY to use software- make
a tutorial in under 5 steps! How can you do this? Our campus license includes your office AND
home computer. Submit an I.S. workorder to request installation. Mailto:Helpdesk@rtc.ctc.edu
Game Buzzers add Zest!
Use our game buzzers with your students for your next quiz or test review. Each buzzer is on a 12foot cord, which connects to the teacher's master control-box. The control box allows you to easily
see which group or student buzzes in first, second and third. Students love using them! These
buzzers are very easy to use, and a great way to inspire learning with a little friendly competition.
How can you use them? Contact the Instructional Improvement office to check out.
mailto:instructimprove@rtc.ctc.edu
The presentation is as important as the slide show
The most carefully crafted PowerPoint presentation can be rendered as dry as dust by poor
interaction with the audience. Here are some tips to make your presentation more interesting.
http://www.presentersuniversity.com/Courses_Triangle.php
Play Jeopardy in Class
Use the GameShow Pro software program to create a computer-based
Jeopardy, Wheel-of-Fortune, or Tic-Tac-Toe game. Use this game with a
projector and the buzzers for a fun way to review material. How? Submit an
I.S. workorder to request software installation. Mailto:helpdesk@rtc.ctc.edu
The New Division of Labor
What skills does the future workforce need? This is a very important question as we update our
curriculum in an increasingly computer-impacted, off-shored world. Two recent articles focus on the
need for two basic skills: expert thinking and complex communication. These skills echo two of the five
RTC Learning Outcomes “Communicate with clarity and originality” and “Think creatively, critically
and reflectively.” http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/05.06/11-murnane.html and
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/murnane06012004.html for those of you who like to
“cut to the chase” find some suggested teaching strategies for these “new basic skills” at:
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/01.09/TeachingtheNewB.html
Quotable
"Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier."
Charles F. Kettering~
For more information regarding the articles in the Faculty Focus or to give input or suggestions of things
you would like to see incorporated into this newsletter please contact the Office of Instructional
Improvement.
The mission of the Office of Instructional Improvement is to advance educational strategies, seek to
improve the quality of learning environments, and support RTC staff as they prepare a diverse student
population for work.