"Academic culture is a curious and conflicted thing. On the one hand, it holds out the allure and occasionally the reality of being a 'community of scholars.' On the other hand, it is a culture infamous for fragmentation, isolation, and competitive individualism--a culture in which community sometimes feels harder to come by than in any other institution on the face of the earth"
--Parker Palmer in Creating Campus Community, 2002.
No matter how long you’ve taught, there is always something you can learn from your colleagues. But if, as Parker Palmer laments in the quote above, you generally prepare and teach your classes in isolation, you may wish you had more opportunities to have the kinds of conversations that would enrich your teaching practice, help you improve student engagement, and deepen your sense of belonging to a community of scholars. Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) at UMBC fill this niche: An FLC is a cross-disciplinary group of 6-12 faculty who meet regularly throughout an academic year in a casual atmosphere to investigate a teaching-related topic of mutual interest.
The Faculty Development Center is currently seeking proposals for new FLC topics. Funding is available to support 3-4 new FLCs in 2019-20. Any UMBC faculty or staff member with an interest in investigating a particular need, issue, or opportunity related to teaching and learning may propose a topic for a year-long FLC that they would like to participate in with colleagues. Proposals should describe the importance of the topic in 1-2 paragraphs in order to entice other UMBC faculty/staff to join the FLC. Approved topics will be announced in late April.
The deadline for topic proposals is April 1, 2019. Please forward your proposal to fdc@umbc.edu.
Some current and recent FLCs have devoted their attention to topics such as:
For further information about Faculty Learning Communities at
UMBC, please consult the FLC page on
the Faculty Development Center's website. If you would like to discuss your
idea in more detail, please contact us at fdc@umbc.edu.
GATHERING MID-TERM FEEDBACK
One way to find out how students are experiencing your class before your end-of-semester course evaluations is to gather feedback from them during the semester. There are two important categories of student feedback: what are they learning and how are they perceiving the class? Another FDC tip-sheet describes ways to collect informal information about actual student learning throughout the semester by using classroom assessment techniques. This tip-sheet describes how to gather early feedback on students’ perceptions of their learning by administering some form of mid-term evaluation. These formative assessments provide targeted information to you about student perspectives of the class that you can use to confirm or change your teaching choices.
Mid-term feedback forms differ from end-of-semester evaluations in two important ways. First, their purpose is to provide some insights for you, the instructor, about student perceptions of their learning in the class, and they are seen only by you. Second, the questions asked on the form are usually more open-ended than formal class evaluations, though you may ask specific questions that you rate with a numerical scale. Some common questions to ask students on mid-term feedback forms are:
The last question above is important because it reinforces the idea that your students, too, need to take responsibility for their learning.
You can also ask students how specific aspects of the course are affecting their learning and collect their perceptions on a rating form. For example, you can ask students about particular readings or labs, or how a certain class exercise worked for them. You can generate your own questions or select from some sample questions for different class formats that the FDC can provide.
Some faculty ask students to complete the questionnaire outside of class, or they provide it as a survey on Blackboard or on Google Forms. These approaches save class time, but they may result in a lower response rate. It may be worth a few minutes of class time to get broader participation.
In the digital age, faculty are exploring new ways to collect this information. Some faculty pose questions and have students respond using a classroom response system such as clicker technology or various smartphone apps. Not too long ago a faculty member who writes a blog for the Chronicle of Higher Education described using Google Docs to allow students to answer anonymously and edit their fellow student responses:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/make-your-midterm-evaluations-public-with-google-docs/38680
The final steps in gathering mid-term feedback are to compile the responses and talk with your students about what you learned. Which of their suggestions can you incorporate into the class now? Which ones are not appropriate to incorporate and why? Showing students that you care about and are responsive to their perceived needs can be a powerful motivator for them. And in the process you receive feedback that can help you make mid-term changes to create a more positive class environment for student learning.
Seed Awards have a budget totaling less than $3,500 for the twenty-four month period for an innovative small project.
Adaptation Awards have a budget totaling $10,000 or less for the twenty-four month period. These awards support the adaptation and implementation of existing successful innovations into other courses, programs, or disciplines.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Awards have a budget totaling $10,000 or less for the twenty-four month period. These awards support the collection and analysis of data on the effect of interventions on student learning and success with the purpose of public dissemination and review.
Implementation and Research Awards have
a budget of $3,500 or greater, up to the total maximum amount of
$25,000 for the twenty-four month period
for the support of truly
innovative, larger projects.
Overview of the Symposium Schedule
9:00-9:30 am: Breakfast with the Deans
9:30-9:50 am: Welcome by the Provost
10:00-10:40, 10:50-11:30 am: Concurrent Sessions (Invited panels & workshops)
11:30-12:15 pm: Poster Session (Posters will remain posted through lunch)
12:15-12:30 pm: Lunch
12:30-2:00 pm: Dr. Randy Bass, keynote speaker
Best,
Linda, Kerrie, Jennifer, and Sarah
Cultivating critical thinking: Integrating information literacy into course content
(Co-Facilitators: Joanna Gadsby & Katy Sullivan, Library)
Flipping the classroom
(Facilitator needed—please contact Kerrie, kkephart@umbc.edu, if you are interested)
Getting Students to READ: Scaffolding Students' Reading, Engagement, Analysis, and Discovery through Texts
(Facilitator needed—please contact Kerrie, kkephart@umbc.edu, if you are interested)
Writing questions to foster deep learning and engagement
(Facilitator: Sarah Leupen, Biological Sciences)