T5 - Excel Shortcuts

When using Excel there are two quick key combinations that I consider “massively useful.” 

The first copies the contents of the cell above into the current cell. This action is activated by pressing the <Ctrl> + “ (quote key next to the Enter key). Press this combination and the contents of the cell above is copied into the cell below. 

The second quick key combination is used to enter the current date into the selected cell. To enter the present date, press the <Ctrl> + ; (semicolon key) combination and the date appears in the current cell. 

For more information, visit us in the CTE or email John Thommen at thommej@lcc.edu.

Tech Tip - Windows Snipping Tool

I use a lot of screen shots in emails to students, especially when I’m explaining how to use a piece of technology. Microsoft Windows has a very easy way to capture all or a portion of your visible screen and copy it to an email or save it to your hard drive. 

The Windows Snipping Tool is found under the Accessories Tab in the Start Menu. When you open the Tool, you can choose how much (and what shape) to snip. This is an advantage over the windows Print Screen (prt sc) button, which requires you to crop the image if you want anything less than the full screen. 

The following video gives a useful set of instructions for finding and using the Snipping Tool in Windows 7.

If you have another version of Windows, or you want to learn more tech tips, contact Meg Elias at clarkm1@star.lcc.edu or visit the CTE.

Coddling Students...Continuing the Discussion

During our Professional Development Days in January, I enjoyed the rare opportunity to sit with my colleagues and talk about teaching.  The discussion in the afternoon session on coddling students brought up deep emotions related to my own teaching practices.  I’ve wondered for some time whether I “do too much” for students.

In my early years teaching at LCC, I had overly strict polices with no room for negotiation, and the language in my syllabus was harsh and condescending.  There were lots of capital letters and bold fonts, with phrases like, “IN CASE YOU WERE THINKING OF COMING IN LATE...JUST STAY HOME!”  One semester I stuck to my “locked door” policy during lecture, and continued the lesson even as an irate student pounded on the door and shouted at me from the hallway.

My teaching philosophy had the underlying premise that students who were not ready for college would learn by failing.  I would not remind them about assignments or exam dates (it’s on the syllabus), because keeping an up-to-date personal calendar is a skill they should have been taught in high school.  If a student forgot to attend an exam, I recorded a zero and moved on.

I can’t remember exactly when my attitude shifted, but somewhere along the way I quit blaming students for being unprepared for higher education.  My current policies are not lenient, really, but I dropped the confrontational tone (and the bold type), and started teaching the skills that students were lacking.  At the beginning of every face-to-face class, for example, I write an agenda on the board, and I keep an up-to-date calendar in Desire2Learn.  Sometimes I even send out an email reminder before a high-stakes assignment is due.  There is no such thing as, “I didn’t know the test was Thursday.”

Because there are clear expectations, I don’t accept any late work.  But I still wonder whether reminding students of upcoming due dates is “helicopter teaching.”  Maybe I need to move my students toward independence by showing them how to use Google Calendar, and decreasing the number of reminders as the semester progresses.

Even if I do too much, I’d rather create an atmosphere of empathy and patience than one of hostility.  I will never again lock a student out of my classroom, or shout at them in my section syllabus.  I will set reasonable expectations, and teach the students how to achieve them.

If you'd like to talk more about classroom management, visit the CTE or contact Meg Elias at clarkm1@star.lcc.edu.

Teaching Tip - Closing the Semester

As instructors, we have been taught that the first day of class is of monumental importance. We’re expected to learn student names, set a positive tone, be confident but approachable, and set clear expectations of our students. With the whole semester in front of us, it’s easy to be optimistic and upbeat on day one. 

Day eighty is a whole different story, isn’t it? When you and the students are tired and filled with stress, it’s tempting to end the semester with a whimper instead of a bang. But when students walk out on the last day, they’ll take a final impression with them, maybe just as strong and important as the first. By the sixteenth week, you’ve spent many hours together and formed a community. Take a minute to say goodbye in a meaningful way. 

Before handing out that last exam, you might recap the high points of the semester, or give a summary of what you’ve learned while teaching the class. Maybe read a quote that evokes a certain emotion about the content, or something inspirational that will help them get through a week of difficult exams and final projects. 

During my final class, when my students hand in their tests, I say goodbye to each of them by name and say something personal about our shared experience. In that gesture, I set aside grades and missed due dates, and acknowledge that the semester was meaningful to me. I try to take those last moments to end the semester thoughtfully and with purpose. 

For more ideas about ending the semester on a high note, see the Teaching Tip, “Bringing Closure” on the CTE website. 

Inside the Teaching Professor - Learning Logs

by guest blogger Tim Deines

Regardless of discipline, faculty are increasingly interested in getting students to write. In a recent issue of The Teaching Professor, “Learning Logs” reminds us that teachers understand the intellectual value in ‘writing across the curriculum’. 

But even when educators support writing in their discipline, they might not know what to assign. What does writing look like, for example, in an intermediate calculus class? That’s where the practice of learning logs comes in. 

A learning log is one of any number of flexible writing assignments that enables students to approach their academic discipline from a ‘writerly’ point-of-view. Learning logs can change depending on what the learning objective of the assignment is. For example, perhaps a physics teacher thinks that if students explore their emotional responses to the latest chapter in quantum theory they will digest the ideas better. An appropriate learning log could then ask students to free-write about how they feel as they work through this particular part of the course content. This could be a low-stakes writing assignment with little or no grade attached to it. 

October's The Teaching Professor has many more examples of learning log activities that teachers can use in their classrooms.  Visit the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) to check out a copy! 

Reference: “Learning Logs” (2015) The Teaching Professor, 29.8 (October), 6.

Lilly Series - Pulling the Rug Out

By CTE staff member and biology instructor, Meg Elias.  The Lilly Series is a set of posts based on sessions held at the Lilly Conference for Evidence-Based Teaching, October 2015.
 
To teach independent thinking in the college classroom, it is important to give students opportunities to take risks without the penalty of “being wrong.” In my experience teaching science to non-majors, students often hesitate to voice their opinion on any subject, perhaps because they aren’t sure how they would defend themselves if challenged. Jeff Murray’s Pulling the Rug Out session at the Lilly Conference gave me an idea for a learning activity based on an ethical question which would allow students to reflect on and challenge their own beliefs in a safe environment.

In one of the varied activities during Murray’s workshop, we were given a list of 16 living things ranging from broccoli to dolphins. We were instructed to assign each item to a category.  Here are my answers:

Acceptable to kill for want	Acceptable to kill for need	Never acceptable to kill
Broccoli Rose	Chicken        Cow Turtle          Salmon Butterfly      Rat Mussel          Mosquito Snake	Dog Monkey Cat Horse Dolphin

I found it to be a very simple exercise, until Jeff asked us to define the rules we used to separate the organisms. Even though I am a biologist, it was hard for me to verbalize why I had listed a chicken as acceptable to kill for need, but not a dolphin (brain size, maybe). In comparing notes with my neighbors, I was surprised to find out that one of them disagreed with my decision that it was okay to kill a rose bush “for want.”  That conversation forced me to put into words the difference I see between harming a plant versus harming an animal (the presence of a nervous system).  How then, do I justify swatting a mosquito that might bite me?  Is that really a need?

The discomfort at having to defend an ambiguous opinion is part of the “pulling the rug out” that Murray wanted us to experience. I can foresee using a similar activity within a genetics unit, asking students the acceptability of various ethical scenarios involving genetic manipulation in plants and animals. Is it acceptable, for example, to give prospective parents the right to select embryos that are healthy and free from genetic diseases? Is that different from artificially selecting the gender of their offspring? 

We need to teach our students that there is value in digging deep and revisiting our perceptions of the world, even allowing them to change their minds in the process.  Activities that challenge us to remove subjectivity can expand scientific literacy and build a sense of ethical responsibility, objectives that should be considered as important as retention of content.

Read more of Jeff Murray’s work here:

Murray, Jeffrey.  “Critical Thinking Activitiesand the Enhancement of Ethical Awareness: An application of a ‘Rhetoric ofDisruption’ to the undergraduate general education classroom.”  Open Review of Educational Research 2:1 (2015): n. pag.  Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

If you'd like to learn more about the Lilly Conference, visit the CTE or contact Meg Elias at clarkm1@star.lcc.edu.

Inside the Teaching Professor - Collaborative Testing

by guest blogger Tim Deines

A recent article in The Teaching Professor suggests that collaborative learning can be an effective pedagogical strategy. Drawing on the work of Giuliodori, et al, the article, “Getting to the Right Answer in Collaborative Testing,” affirms that collaborative learning has always been at the heart of scientific advancement. “Why then,” ask researchers, “do we discourage collaboration by telling our students to ‘keep your eyes on your own paper’” (qtd. in “Getting to the Right Answer” 2)?

Still, faculty worry about how collaborative testing and learning affect student testing performance. What is the relative impact of well-performing and poorly-performing students on the collaborating group, for example? Faculty may ask, “Are the smart students making the decision for the rest of the group” (“Getting to the Right Answer” 2)?

Giuliodori’s research, which sampled the individual and group testing behavior of 65 vet students, found that having the right answer was more important than being a “high-performing” student. Students of all performance levels were usually able to convince fellow students through discussion that their answers were the correct ones.

This data challenges the assumption that we learn best on our own. Giuliodori’s findings suggest that there may be a need for a pedagogical paradigm shift in how we teach and test.

Stop by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) to read the entire article!

Reference: “Getting to the Right Answer in Collaborative Testing” (2015) The Teaching Professor, 29.8 (October), 2-5.