Teaching Tips / Notes

NACTA Journal, Mar 2004 by Weeks, Bill

Boredom Monitor

When teaching a lecture class of 50 or more I routinely appoint a "boredom monitor." I usually select an unsuspecting student on the back row, maybe someone who seems disengaged from the start. Periodically, I check with my monitor to gauge the class mood or reaction to an activity. Once or twice during a class, I'll yell up to the cheap seats, "Hey, Jerome, how am I'm doing?" My boredom monitor can give me a "thumbs up" indicating all are engaged, or might tell me I'm losing the students on the side, or that a heavy lunch demands that we adjourn early.

NACTA Discussion Groups 2002/2003

Compiled by Leverne Barrett, University of Nebraska, Chair NACTA Teaching Improvement Committee

Group: Evaluating & Rewarding Advising Topics Discussed

* Exit interviews very frequently used for gathering input from students about advising.

* Writing an advising philosophy recognized by advisors as effective way to improve advising

* Paradigm: My teaching/advising is not open to peer review like research

* Sources of information for evaluating advising

* Peer (Team up with another faculty)

* Self- provided (Portfolio)

* Attendance at advising workshops

* Evaluate on basis of appointment

* Number of students

* Feedback from students

* Some used standardized instruments (do in spring)

* How to collect student input on advising

* Evaluation submitted before enrollment or grades released

* Administration attend classes and pass out more successful than faculty member passing out forms

* Models like American Association of Advising

* Advising is a service part of land-grant institutions

* Ways to reward quality advising

* Administration recognize it is the climate

* Travel awards

* Release time

* Support funds, GRA for faculty ? Quality advising

* Dean take out five top advisors to dinner

* Monetary award ? Traditional advising awards

* Elite advising club ? visible recognition

* Note from Dean attended Advising Workshop

* Figure into workload with teaching

* Get credit for advising organizations

* Becomes less of a thankless job

* University advising award

* Individual advising award at college level

* Focus group with students. Look for problems.

* Have NACTA members send in survey instruments for advising

* Leadership must feel that it is important. Must be visible. Eventually, it will get a life of its own. Participate in NACADA

* What can help us be better advisors?

* Combination of group and individual advising

* Discussions that are beyond course scheduling, those can be done via email. In office meetings for the deeper questions. Where am I going? How do I get there?

* We need to emphasize developmental advising, make sure we have time during advising period, have sign-ups

* Rest of the semester, have an open-door policy. Or, if schedule doesn't permit that, by appointment.

* Use list serve to communicate job announce ments, scholarships, clubs, etc.

* Create useful documents for students

* Creating time, documenting publishing pressures

* Make sure students are prepared for meetings, make sure the normal plan of study is readily available

* Create an advising handbook

* Implement a teaching/advising fellows pro gram

* Advisor tips on the web

* Create advising chats within colleges on campus to discuss advising issues a couple of times a year.

* Share information, useful documents

Group: Challenges for Distance Education

* Challenges/Needs for Colleges of Agriculture:

* Exchanging courses/ need for a variety of noncampus delivered courses

* Could deliver formal graduate degrees courses

* Interactivity concerns remain high

* Using an interactive video network for clinics (i.e. teaching is live, but videotapes are a backup); - audiences include: public school teachers, private crop consultants, etc.

* Administrative support in a variety of ways needed, including financial....

* Develop and manage the lab aspects of the Hort type courses

* Make sure the technologies are always func tioning and to continue to provide a good quality of technical services

* There are issues of how to support DE students

* Trying to develop more programs such as noncredit offerings

* Not all MS students want to be professional entomologists, so the motivation for the degree for the DE students may/is different from the on-campus students

* Teaching for this audience may require some new structuring/organizing of content

* There is a need to look for and explore opportu nities for collaboration

* Some faculty have negative feeling about teaching via DE and about student learning in a DE environment

* Themes/Concerns for Distance delivery

* Large administrative concerns: money, tuition, rates, registering between systems (i.e., with a university like Univ. of Nebraska the Lincoln campus, the Kearney campus, etc.; also the registering between several universities like Virginia Tech and Clemson)

* Department/college concerns: time, money to develop courses...etc.

* Teachers have to rethink how and what they teach (different types of subjects; formal and non-formal; adult students and the 18-26 year old; grad vs. undergrad vs. professional vs. extension; modules vs. entire courses; etc.