The Interteach Format: Facilitating Students’ Consistent Preparation, Attendance, and Active Participation.
TECH 111

Facilitator: Philip N. Hineline, Professor, Psychology, CLA

The Interteach Format is a whole-course arrangement organized around one-to-one discussion between students.  Its objective is to enable more (if not most) students to do as the best students always have done:  They consistently prepare for class, they integrate the course material by examining cross-relations between topics, and they actively participate during class.

• Here’s a way to get the students to tell you what they are finding difficult or interesting, which makes for easy and well-focused lecture preparation.
• Here’s a way to position yourself mainly as helpful coach, rather than as information dispenser.
• Here’s a way to provide consequences for the students to always come prepared–consequences that arise from normal conversation rather than from coercive arrangements.

View this session online

Prior Knowledge: Potentials and Pitfalls
TECH Center, Faculty Wing

Facilitator: Carol Philips, Associate Director

Before their arrival in our classes, whether introductory or at graduate level, students have collected information and developed ideas about course topics. Education researchers have become increasingly aware of how their students' learning is affected by prior knowledge, whether that knowledge is on target or is riddled with misconceptions. In this workshop, we will begin by reviewing findings about prior knowledge. We will then consider strategies for building upon correct information and for battling misconceptions typical to our disciplines.

Designing Questions that Target Different Levels of Learning
TECH 111

Facilitator: A. Baris Gunersel, Assistant Director

This workshop is grounded in Bloom’s Taxonomy, a well-established systemic description of cognitive levels, from knowledge through evaluation. We will use this system to consider how we can construct questions that target the different levels of learning. Participants will get the opportunity to create questions that they can use in their class, reflect on their learning goals, and relate their questions to these goals.

What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain
TLC (TECH 112)

Facilitator: A. Baris Gunersel, Assistant Director

The TLC invites you to join a book group discussing "What the Best College Teachers Do." Ken Bain, the book`s author, will be the keynote speaker at the TLC`s Winter Faculty Conference on Tuesday, January 12th. Register now for a book group to get a spot and a free copy of What the Best College Teachers Do. Registrants commit to reading the book and to attending both meetings of the group.

Review from Booklist
"With the strong conviction that good teaching can be learned, and after 15 years of observing teachers in action, Bain undertook an exploration of the essentials of effective teaching. The result is an insightful look at what makes a great teacher, based on a study of three dozen teachers from a cross section of disciplines from medical-school faculties to undergraduate departments. After interviewing students and colleagues, observing classrooms and laboratories, and examining course materials from syllabi to lecture notes, Bain concludes that the quality of teaching is measured not by whether students pass exams but whether they retain the material to such an extent that it influences their thoughts and actions. Bain focuses on what the best teachers know and understand about their subject matter as well as the learning process; how they prepare; what they expect of their students; how they treat students; and how they evaluate student progress.: Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain
TLC (TECH 112)

Mondays, Nov 9 and Nov 16, 1:00pm-2:00pm
Facilitator: Carol Philips, Associate Director

Wednesdays, Nov 11 and Nov 18, 11:am-12:00pm
Facilitator: Rob Pred, TLC Faculty Fellow

Fridays, Nov 13 and Nov 20, 4:00pm-5:00pm
Facilitator: Pamela Barnett, Associate Vice Provost and Director

The TLC invites you to join one of the three book groups discussing What the Best College Teachers Do. Ken Bain, the book's author, will be the keynote speaker at the TLC's Winter Faculty Conference on Tuesday, January 12th. Register now for a book group to get a spot and a free copy of What the Best College Teachers Do. Registrants commit to reading the book and to attending both meetings of the group you've selected.

Review from Booklist
"With the strong conviction that good teaching can be learned, and after 15 years of observing teachers in action, Bain undertook an exploration of the essentials of effective teaching. The result is an insightful look at what makes a great teacher, based on a study of three dozen teachers from a cross section of disciplines from medical-school faculties to undergraduate departments. After interviewing students and colleagues, observing classrooms and laboratories, and examining course materials from syllabi to lecture notes, Bain concludes that the quality of teaching is measured not by whether students pass exams but whether they retain the material to such an extent that it influences their thoughts and actions. Bain focuses on what the best teachers know and understand about their subject matter as well as the learning process; how they prepare; what they expect of their students; how they treat students; and how they evaluate student progress.: Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Eric Mazur's Peer Instruction: How Could It Work in Your Classroom?
TECH 111

Facilitators: TLC Staff

Participants will view a video that follows Mazur as he teaches an introductory class. He explains his methods, why he uses them, and discusses the improvement in student learning outcomes that he, and others, have documented. Following the video, we will discuss our own responses to his pedagogy and how we might use some of Mazur's methods in our own classrooms.

Eric Mazur's Peer Instruction: Writing Conceptual Questions**
TECH 111

Facilitators: TLC Staff

Mazur asks students conceptual questions about their reading prior to class, during the class session, and on exams. Mazur argues that these questions improve on traditional textbook and exam questions which are unlikely to examine the concept, or "why," of scientific phenomenon. This session will begin with a brief introduction to writing conceptual questions followed by participants rewriting current questions in conceptual form, in small groups or individually.

**Please bring several exam questions that you currently use.

Coping with Disruptive Behavior in the Classroom: An Online Seminar
TECH 111

Magna Online Seminar

Explosive. Anti-social. Passive-aggressive. Students with these and other types of challenging personalities can quickly undermine a class and spoil the learning experience for everyone involved. These students also can put others at risk with extreme behaviors. Dr. Gerald Amada, an expert on disruptive student issues, offers principles, guidelines, and strategies to identify different disruptive personality styles and to teach these students more effectively. Participants will view the online seminar together in TECH 111.

This webinar is co-sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice Provost and Dean of Students and the Teaching and Learning Center.

Students are Already Preparing for Final Exams…Are your Final Exams Already Prepared?
TECH 111

• focusing on learning outcomes in the design of final exams
• assigning the relative weights given to the demonstration of mastery of critical/essential concepts and skills
• providing students with preparation tools and strategies for final exams
• establishing fair, transparent, and defensible grading criteria to increase grading efficiency, consistency
• managing delivery of feedback to students
• writing exam instructions, point values and partial credit, time limits versus unlimited time