What About...FAD?

In April we celebrated Faculty Appreciation Day (FAD) at the CTE, as almost 200 colleagues chatted and enjoyed food with each other. Additionally, we honored two of LCC’s finest, Tracy Price and Dale Herder with awards. The ceremony was heartfelt as many in the room shared a tear or two during the testimonies to them. Tracy and Dale spoke of their appreciation for all of the faculty they have worked with and each of them provided a long list of people who helped them over the years.

It is always nice to see people get recognition for the work they do and for people to know that they really do make a difference in the lives of others. The CTE staff truly appreciates all of the work and effort that faculty put into their teaching and we want faculty to understand that their efforts on behalf of our students is celebrated here.

Yet, how do we go about appreciating each other on a daily basis? How often do we take a small moment of time to consider the instructor/staff/administrator working in the next classroom or the next office? Most of us think about the difference we can make in the lives of our students, but equally important is the difference we can make in the lives of our colleagues. My mother always told me that I don’t have to like a person to be civil to them and that I can always greet another person with a smile and a hello. Perhaps we can try to extend a modicum of appreciation with a smile and a hello to fellow LCC employees as we move through campus, even if we don’t know them!

For a cup of coffee and some collegial discussion, please visit the CTE or email Carole Kendy at kendyc@star.lcc.edu.

What About……Using the Annotated Bibliography in lieu of a Research Paper?

Many instructors want to incorporate writing assignments into their courses, but assigning a research paper seems daunting. Perhaps assigning an annotated bibliography will do the trick. 

An annotated bibliography is a method of demonstrating to readers an understanding of a topic and the research that supports it. The annotated bibliography allows students the opportunity to select a topic of study (or be assigned one) and to conduct scholarly research about it. Students then evaluate what research would effectively support a thesis concerning the topic. By locating and reading research concerning a topic of study, students must critically think through the topic, gaining perspective about the subject matter. 

After this process, students then prepare an annotated bibliography that presents a thesis and lists each piece of research deemed important to the topic. The annotated bibliography includes a summary paragraph of each research piece and an explanation as to how the research supports the thesis. In this way, the annotated bibliography will provide you with evidence that your students have read about a topic and made analysis of it. Depending on the depth of study you want from your students, the annotated bibliography might be two pages or longer. Plan to allow students several weeks to construct their annotated bibliography and encourage them to contact our librarians for additional help in locating research. The beauty of using this format is that it can easily be used with any subject matter at any time during the term, and it can be as involved as you want it to be.

For suggested tips on how to prepare this type of assignment and a sample of an annotated bibliography entry, please visit the CTE website/Teaching Tips or email Carole Kendy at kendyc@star.lcc.edu.

What About....Best Practices?

Most of us have heard the term “best practices” bandied about, but where does it come from? The business sector, particularly those who develop business models for major corporations, coined the phrase decades ago and since it has expanded to apply to all types of fields and disciplines.

In the field of education, “best practices” might refer to those behaviors or instructional patterns used by teachers to gain some measure of success with their students. But what exactly are those and more importantly, can they be defined as practices that apply to all groups, in all situations? No, they cannot.

As we all know, teaching can be a subjective and highly personal activity. Most of us prefer it that way and want to continue down our own little road of “success,” not bothering to share what works or more importantly, to talk about what is not working. Some might feel intimated and afraid that perhaps they do not measure up to others in talent and skill of lesson planning and delivery. Some might feel that their methods might be considered too Avant Garde or too antiquated. Whatever the reason, it is difficult for teachers to expose themselves through open discussions with their colleagues. However, there are a few things we can do quietly, without calling attention to ourselves.

The “best practice” that we can all do is to try and keep up with current trends and evaluate how they might fit with our individual style of teaching. The “best practice” we can all do is to self-evaluate as we teach and to never be fully content with our product. The “best practice” we can all do is to be willing to try new ways of doing things in our classroom and to know that it is okay to fail. After all, to practice something is to get better and better at it over time and isn’t that the “best practice” we should do for ourselves and for our students?

For more about best practices or to share your ideas with us, visit the CTE in TLC 324 or email Carole Kendy at kendyc@star.lcc.edu.

What About...RateMyProfessors?

So, what about RateMyProfessors? In case you have never heard of it, this website, the largest in the world, allows students to evaluate over 8,000 schools and 1 million instructors. According to the site, “… a rater must rate the course and/or professor on a 1-5 scale in the following categories: "easiness," "helpfulness," "clarity,” the rater's "interest" in the class prior to taking it, and the degree of "textbook use" in the course. The rater may also share what grade they received in the course, rate the professor on their "hotness," and include comments of up to 350 characters in length max.”

But, really, just how much weight should these evaluations be given? Instructors scratch their heads when they see a low rating on RateMyProfessors and yet, their IDEA feedback reports glowing responses from their students. How can this be?

Critics of the website point toward gender bias in the methodology the site uses to calculate an overall rating for each instructor. Benjamin Schmidt, a professor at Northeastern University, created a searchable database of roughly 14 million reviews from the site. Schmidt found that male professors are far more likely to be considered "smart" or "brilliant" by their students (Huntsberry).

Furthermore, in another study done by researchers at North Carolina State, students taking online courses, who had never met their teachers, gave significantly lower scores to professors with female names. “Students who thought they were being taught by women gave lower evaluation scores than students who thought they were being taught by men. It didn’t matter who was actually teaching them … the instructor students thought was male, received a 4.35 rating out of 5. The instructor students thought was female, received a 3.55 rating …” (MacNell and Shipman).

So where does this leave us? Well, know that students can leave multiple comments, making it appear that many students are saying the same thing about you. By logging onto different computers and using different email addresses, students who may have it “out for you” could be sabotaging your rating. Since most of the rating categories revolve around the ease of a course and how easy it is to get an A from the instructor, take heart if your ratings are a bit low. Challenging students is not a bad thing. What counts is your desire to work with students and deliver quality every time you step into the classroom!

For more information, see us in the CTE or email Carole Kendy at kendyc@star.lcc.edu.

Huntsberry, William. “How We Talk About Our Teachers.” NPR. 23 Feb 2015. Radio.

MacNell, Lillian and Matt Shipman. “Online Students Give Instructors Higher Marks If They Think Instructors Are Men.” NC State News. 9 Dec 2014.