Have You Seen?
From: Carolyn A. Strand, Assistant
Professor, Seattle Pacific University, Chair of the Teaching and Curriculum
Research in Accounting Education Committee
- Assessing Service-Learning:
Results from a Survey of "Learn and Serve America, Higher
Education" by Maryann J. Gray, Elizabeth Heneghan Ondaatje, Ronald D.
Fricker, Jr., and Sandy A. Geschwind in Change (March/April 2000, p. 30-39).
This article reports the results of several surveys to assess the impact of
service learning on students and on the organizations where they volunteered.
One survey includes over 1,300 students, who self-reported experiences,
attitudes, and outcomes within the context of a service-learning environment.
Their responses were compared to those of students in similar courses that did
not include a service-learning component. The findings indicate that
service-learning students were more likely than comparison students to report
that the course increased their current or expected level of involvement in
civic affairs and improved their life skills. However, students who
participated in the service-learning experience were no more likely than the
comparison students to report that the course improved their academic skills or
their career preparation. The data also suggest that service-learning has
stronger and more positive outcomes when certain conditions are in place, such
as when course concepts are tightly linked to students' service experience.
Two other surveys asked community
organization staff to rate the skills and contributions of college student
volunteers. In the spring of 1995, 443 individuals responded (69% response
rate) and in the spring of 1996, 404 participated in the second survey (64%
response rate). These staff employees from community organizations indicated
that the college student volunteers were highly effective in promoting the
goals of the community organizations in which they served. Respondents also
indicated that they were able to improve service quality, quantity, and variety
due to the student volunteers' efforts. Complete survey results are available
from RAND at www.rand.org.
- More Quick Hits: Successful
Strategies by Award-Wining Teachers, edited by S. Holly Stocking, Eileen T.
Bender, Claude H. Cookman, J. Vincent Peterson, and Robert B. Votaw, 1998,
publisher: Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN). This is the sequel to
Quick Hits (1994, Indiana University Press), a compilation of favorite teaching
strategies from the annual faculty retreats at Indiana University (the Faculty
Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching, including faculty from IU's eight
campuses). The strategies and suggestions included in the current volume focus
on student learning, and each idea is succinctly described in a few paragraphs.
Accordingly, the reader may find 15 suggestions on helping students direct
their own learning, 9 ideas for incorporating service-learning, 21 strategies
for creating learning communities, 19 approaches to foster critical and
creative thinking, and 31 proposals for using assessment and evaluation.
- Teaching with Writing by Toby
Fulwiler, 1987, publisher: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc. (Portsmouth, NH).
Since 1977, the author has conducted interdisciplinary writing workshops for
elementary, secondary, and college teachers at different locations in the
United States. Intent on sharing the substance of these workshops, the author
identifies and describes the main points of the seminars. Each of ten chapters
contains practical ideas for using writing in the classroom, as well as some
discussion of the theories on which those ideas are based. The author also
includes specific suggestions at the end of each chapter for classroom
activities, exercises, and an informative outline that may be used as a student
handout. For example, chapter 5 is entitled "Revising" and the
Classroom Handout includes a definition of revision, followed by five questions
for the student: (1) Is the purpose of the writing clear in the first
paragraph? (2) Can you identify the audience for whom this is written? (3) How
is the paper organized? (4) Is evidence used to support generalizations? (5)
Can you summarize the main point of the paper in a sentence or two?
- Teaching Excellence and the Inner
Life of Faculty by Robert G. Kraft, in Change (May/June 2000, p. 48-52.
Kraft describes efforts to improve teaching quality at Eastern Michigan
University, including establishing a Faculty Center for Instruction Excellence
and offering workshops and seminars on the scholarship of teaching and
learning. With no release time, no encouragement from administrators, and no
promise of credit toward tenure and promotion, 240 faculty enrolled in the
seminars over a period of 18 semesters. According to Kraft, faculty who
participated found the seminars a safe and enjoyable place to develop a spirit
of community that was lacking in the individual departments. Seminar
participants mentioned a variety of obstacles to such open and honest
discussions in their individual departments. For example, some participants
perceived that the competitive environment that existed in their respective
departments precluded open discussions, and that teaching excellence was not
considered a topic for scholarly discussion.
- Teaching Tips: Strategies,
Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, 9th Edition, by
Wilbert J. McKeachie, 1994, publisher: D. C. Heath and Company (Lexington, MA).
This book is written specifically for the new faculty member. McKeachie notes
that most professors go into their first classes with a good deal of fear and
trembling - concerned that they may not be able to answer questions, may not be
liked and respected by the students, and so forth. McKeachie claims that
getting off to a good start is critical, and the most likely way to do that is
to develop techniques for breaking the ice, for encouraging class
participation, and for getting the class organized. There are 34 chapters with
ideas for course preparation, organizing effective discussion, assigning
grades, using writing projects, cooperative learning, and many more.
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