Consider using Blackboard Learn this semester.

All WebCT users, [...]]]> The new year has started and a new semester is here! To help you make sure that you are on track to start the semester off right, here are a few Blackboard, WebCT, and Clicker tips.

Since some ISU courses will still be in WebCT, while most will be in Blackboard Learn, be sure to tell your students which online Course Management System you are using.

Blackboard Learn

1. Request your courses.
2. Use ISU AdminTools to your course to enroll students directly from the Registrar’s Office enrollment database and submit midterm and final grades directly from your Blackboard Learn Grade Center.
3. There are many tools in Blackboard Learn that will help you organize, present content, and engage students in a variety of learning activities. See Blackboard Learn Instructor Support.

CELT Learning Technologies staff are here to help. Please call 294-5357 or email bbhelp@iastate.edu for assistance with your Blackboard Learn courses. We also offer a variety to workshops on using Blackboard Learn. For more information on up-coming sessions, please see the Spring 2012 eLearning schedule of events on the eLearning homepage. For more teaching and learning events, see the CELT calendar of events.

WebCT

1. Request your courses.
2. Add the ISU Admin Tools to your course this tool allows you to enroll students directly from the Registrar’s Office and submit midterm and final grades directly from your WebCT Grade Book.
3. Build your content. There are many tools in WebCT that will help you organize and present content to students: Syllabus, Learning Modules, Assignments, Assessments, Discussion Board to name a few!
4. Enroll your students.

CELT Learning Technologies staff are here to help. Please call 294-5357 or email webctgold@iastate.edu.

Clickers

1. Request your instructor hardware kit: email clickerhelp@iastate.edu to request the hardware for your computer.
2. Download and install the software.
3. Review the PC Clicker Step-by-Step Guide or the Mac Clicker Step-by-Step Guide and Creating Interactive Presentations to get started.

CELT Learning Technologies staff are here to help. Please call 294-5357 or email clickerhelp@iastate.edu for assistance with clickers in your course. We also offer a variety to workshops on using clickers and the TurningPoint software. For more information on up-coming sessions, please see our calendar of events.

Cinzia Cervato, professor at the department of Geologic and Atmospheric Sciences and Charles Kerton, associate professor at the department of Physics and Astronomy, team-teach a 3-credit, online Earth and Space Science course delivered via Bb Learn.  In their recent presentation for the Geological Society of America Annual [...]]]>
Cinzia Cervato and Charles Kerton

Charles Kerton

Cinzia Cervato

Cinzia Cervato, professor at the department of Geologic and Atmospheric Sciences and Charles Kerton, associate professor at the department of Physics and Astronomy, team-teach a 3-credit, online Earth and Space Science course delivered via Bb Learn.  In their recent presentation for the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Minneapolis (9-12 October 2011), Drs. Cervato and Kerton shared the rewards and challenges of designing and developing an online course, which covers the concepts of geology, astronomy, and meteorology and focuses on modeling inquiry-based and team learning.

The new Iowa elementary teacher certification requires elementary education students starting at ISU this fall to enroll in a three-credit course that covers content taken from three current courses: Geology 100, Astronomy 120 and Meteorology 206. To accommodate our existing teaching commitments, we decided to create a new online two-credit course, Geology/Astronomy 106X, and a one-credit lab (Geology/Astronomy 106L). Content is aligned with the Iowa Core Curriculum, the new national Conceptual Framework for K-12 science education, and the Earth Science Literacy Principles promoted by the National Science Foundation.

The course is being delivered through Blackboard Learn 9.1 and was designed with the assistance of Lesya Hassall, Andrea Peer, and Allan Schmidt as a low-maintenance and sustainable solution. The purpose of the course is to model best teaching practices and the course is designed around a teaching strategy based on active learning and inquiry. Touchpoints give students multiple access points and ways to interact with the content.

The technical support for course delivery is articulated around three macro ideas: Learn, Experiment, and Discuss (see Fig. 1). Under “Learn”, students access content in 14 weekly modules with a highly structured study week that allows self-motivated students to cover the large amount of content through learning objectives, textbook reading and ‘big idea’ modules. Self-assessment and open-book quizzes allow students to self-assess their ability to read for content and to remember, understand and apply what they have learned. Simple science experiments that can be completed with provided ‘experiment kits’ and ‘geotours’ on Google Earth are part of the “Experiment” component of the course (see Fig. 2); students record them in their e-fieldbook (see Fig. 3) that is rubric-graded by us. Team-based discussions are accessed through the “Discuss” component: each team takes turn posting a discussion question on the weekly topic once per semester and other teams respond. Feedback from the posting team and instructors is based on grading rubrics.

In addition to weekly assignments, students are required to submit at least 10 daily forecasts on the Dynamic Weather Forecaster and five different Moon phases to record in their e-fieldbook. Four proctored exams allow us to assess content understanding and give students the opportunity to self-correct by attempting the exam twice.

Performance and satisfaction evaluations were conducted with students enrolled in the class at week 5 of the semester. Adjustments for the spring semester include revision of the course introduction and information to include clearer expectations for student behavior, the importance of science within their college training to become elementary teachers, and encouragement to adopt early good time management and active learning practices that are key for the success in the course.

Preliminary results on our experience in developing and teaching this online course were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis on October 9, 2011. A PDF of the presentation is available here.

>> include open- and close-ended questions >> include intentional measures of both general instructor attributes (e.g. enthusiasm or effectiveness) [...]]]> Class Climate, the web-based course evaluation tool, helps measure an instructor’s achievements in teaching.  To create well-designed, valid, reliable, and practical  Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) questionnaires the instruments should:

>> include open- and close-ended questions
>> include intentional measures of both general instructor attributes (e.g. enthusiasm or effectiveness) and specific instructor behaviors (e.g. listening, providing feedback)
>> use consistent scales (e.g., five-points, same direction, 1 = low, 5 = high) and a no-opinion option
>> produce useful feedback to instructors that can inform their teaching
>> can be completed thoughtfully within 10 to 15 minutes

When developing course evaluations consider:

>> How will the student evaluation information be used?
>> Is it important to re-ask demographic information?
>> What types of reports do we need for our department? for the College? for Promotion and Tenure?
>> What types of questions will help achieve professional, departmental, and College goals?
>> How will the findings help us departmentally to recruit students, and promote Iowa State University’s mission?

Once these objectives have been defined the creation of the questionnaire will be easier to accomplish.  A questionnaire created from the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) Sample Questions is available for use in Class Climate [preview online SET questionnaire (PDF)].  After the questionnaire is developed, departments should generate a demonstration survey with mock course to see the results in a sample final report [demo SET report (PDF)].  These items should be shared with faculty members, department chairs, graduate assistants, teaching assistants, college deans, and students for any constructive feedback.

Currently, Class Climate is being used by:

>> 40 departmental administrators from 88 academic departments
>> The Colleges of Engineering, Design, Business and Human Services
>> An instructor from Math and Stat intends to use the system to do pre- and post- tests for STEM research during spring 2012.
>> An Engineering Student Services Department surveying advisees.
>> 56,000 surveys were sent to students spring semester (students who received surveys for more than one class are counted multiple times). There was a 72% return rate for spring semester.

>> Learn more about Class Climate, and course evaluations at Iowa State

Scientists understand that advances in understanding occur when important questions are addressed using systematic, scientific processes of inquiry. The Office of Curricular and Student Assessment at the College of Veterinary Medicine seeks [...]]]>

September 2011

Continuous Curricular Improvement in the College of Veterinary Medicine

Scientists understand that advances in understanding occur when important questions are addressed using systematic, scientific processes of inquiry. The Office of Curricular and Student Assessment at the College of Veterinary Medicine seeks to employ such processes to understand the relationships between the college’s curricular practices and our students’ success. This might seem like an odd line of inquiry; after all, what other than the curriculum would impact how well students do when they graduate, especially in a discipline as specialized as veterinary medicine? But our teaching does not always influence learning outcomes in the ways we would expect. For instance, Hecker and Violato¹ found that of all the factors influencing medical students’ performance on board examinations, curricular format had a negligible and inconsistent effect.

Read more here.