7th Annual, Lilly Conference on College & University Teaching
 New England
2-3 November 2001, Boston, Massachusetts

Friday, November 2, 2001

Egan Center Second Floor
8:30am - 5:00pm Registration & Resource Fair Open
Pick up your conference materials and explore the information and resources available on college & university teaching. Participants are invited to display program materials to share with their colleagues. There will be a table for extra handouts for those unable to attend all sessions of interest.

Egan Center Raytheon Amphiteatre (Room 240)
9:00am - 10:15am 1 * Welcome & Keynote

Welcome
Milton D. Cox, University Director for Teaching Effectiveness Programs, Founder & Director, Original Lilly Conference, Miami University & David Hall , Provost, Northeastern University

Keynote
How to Become an OSCAR-Winning Teacher
Anthony Grasha, Psychology, University of Cincinnati
In any teaching setting, faculty must deal with five issues: (1) helping students to acquire and retain information, (2) getting students to concentrate and pay attention, (3) motivating students, (4) developing critical thinking skills, and (5) helping students to take initiative and responsibility for learning. OSCAR is an acronym for principles of active learning that research across disciplines shows can help teachers to manage such concerns. This keynote will demonstrate how to use the concepts in OSCAR in instructor- as well as student-centered classrooms. A variety of active-learning demonstrations, mini-cases, and video examples will be employed to give participants a "hands-on" experience with the principles embedded in OSCAR. How to use the concepts in OSCAR to assess current teaching practices and to develop options for enhancing the teaching-learning process will be explored.

10:30am - 11:15am Concurrent Sessions

Room 340
2A * Next Generation Studio: The Future of Interactive Learning
Bradford C. Lister, Anderson Center for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
RPI has developed a "Next Generation Studio" model that combines the benefits of face-to-face studio teaching with the power and flexibility of web-based learning. In this model, web sites become "virtual studio classrooms" that engage students in active learning, team work, and communication beyond the confines of scheduled classes. This session will provide an in-depth discussion of the new model, including the development of online content, the role of the faculty member, and the assessment of learning outcomes.

Room 440
2B * An Interdisciplinary Course Provides Interaction and Reflection: Literature and Disability
Sandra Miller-Jacobs, Special Education, A. Lynne Wagner, Nursing, & Patrice K. Gray, English, Fitchburg State College
What does literature tell us about how society values people with disabilities and how people who are challenged view their experience? This session will describe a course that helps students gain a new perspective on individuals with special needs and reconnect with the joy of reading. This presentation focuses on the interactive and reflective activities that foster this growth and on literature as the vehicle for examining differences.

Room 306
2C * Acting Up: Drama Games that Foster Student Exploration of Texts
Miriam Rosalyn Diamond, Center for Effective University Teaching, Northeastern University
We often use narratives - literary, historical, autobiographical, folklore, religious, and case studies - to convey material. The challenge is in stimulating students to connect with these events in a meaningful way that fosters personal understanding of the episode. By introducing simple dramatic games and exercise, students can be encouraged to re-tell and experience the event in new ways. Participants will have the opportunity to experience samples of these exercises and discuss application to a variety of disciplines.

Room 406
2D * Encouraging Critical Thinking in Freshman Science Courses
Fred Garafalo, School of Arts & Sciences, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Many freshman science students have difficulties distinguishing between observation and inference, mastering scientific vocabulary, and working comfortably with symbolic representations. They also fail to recognize the interplay among facts, definitions, hypotheses, and predictions. This session will describe some techniques and activities that have been used in recent years in a freshman chemistry curriculum to help students develop these skills.

11:30am - 12:15pm Concurrent Sessions

Room 340
3A * Structured Support for Learning - Pedagogy Before Technology
Kim Chambers, Instructional Resource Center, University of Connecticut
A combination of tiered workshops, individual instruction, broad inter-unit team support, Student Educational Technical Assistants (SETAs), and comprehensive evaluation procedures have proven to be extremely effective in producing and delivering quality courses. This session will introduce each topic in the form of problem, strategy for solution, and results followed by audience discussion and participation.

Room 440
3B * Teaching Beyond the Campus: Reaching Out to High School Teachers
Elizabeth A. Cowles, Biology, Eastern Connecticut State University
Colleges often ignore their feeder institutions, the high schools. The Advanced Placement (AP) program provides an excellent platform for college educators to reach out to their secondary school counterparts. This session will look at ways to develop college-high school faculty partnerships.

Room 306
3C * Communicative Reciprocity: Making the Internationalized Classroom Work
Maria Parker, English for International Students, Duke University
While it is generally agreed that international students need to acculturate in order to succeed at U.S. universities, this street is usually seen as one-way, with the burden of this integration falling on the international students. The presenters will discuss the need for an implicit contract of reciprocal responsibility on the part of native speakers and instructors and the willingness by native speakers to extend reciprocity. They will present strategies and activities for facilitating this integration. 

Room 406
3D * Bringing God to College: Religious Expression in Higher Education
Debra Johanyak, English, The University of Akron - Wayne College
Are all First Amendment clauses equally protected? Many educators use the First Amendment to bar spiritual views from higher education. But forbidding religious expression in U.S. classrooms is illegal. This session provides legal and academic support for admitting religious perspectives into higher education. Participants will work in small groups to prepare mini-lessons that include a spiritual dimension. Each group will present its lesson to the larger group, followed by discussion and summary of the experience. 

Egan Center Raytheon Amphiteatre (Room 240)
12:15pm Lunch * Tables by Discipline
Sit at the table of your choice. Choose from among:

1. Accounting, Business, Management, Marketing

2. Lab Sciences, Biology

3. Computer Science/Computer Information Systems

4. Economics

5. Education

6. Engineering

7. English/Writing, Journalism, Communication

8. Fine & Performing Arts

9. Humanities/Languages/Philosophy/Interdisciplinary Studies

10. Mathematics/Statistics

11. Medical, Nursing, Health-Related

12. Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Social Work

13. Teaching & Learning Centers, Faculty/Instructional Development

1:15pm - 3:00pm Special Event: Walking Tour 
(Meet at conference registration area)
Demonstrating the Use of Walking Tours for Teaching and Learning : Boston’s Fenway and Mission Hill Neighborhoods
Wilfred Holton, Sociology & Anthropology, Northeastern University
Will Holton will lead a tour like those he has used for 25 years in his popular “Sociology of Boston” course. We will explore the social history and current issues in two of the neighborhoods near Northeastern University. The Fenway was a polluted marsh until after 1880 when its filling was planned by Frederick Law Olmstead as a public health and park project, with an attempt to lure wealthy residents to streets around the “Back Bay Fens” parkland. In recent decades the area has been impacted heavily by colleges, universities, and other institutions. The Mission Hill neighborhood nearby started as a farming community on the mainland in Roxbury, separated from Boston by the 850-acre Back Bay tidal marsh. After the marshes were filled the area was closely tied to Boston by roads and streetcars, with a large Irish-American community around the huge Mission Church. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, large public housing developments were built in Mission Hill which became rundown and dangerous by the 1970’s. Renewal of the projects and some gentrification have upgraded the area in recent decades. About 1.5 to 2 hours - all on foot - beginning and ending at the conference registration desk.

1:30pm - 3:00pm Concurrent Workshops

Room 340 
4A * Technology: Building Communities in e-Space
Evelyn Pezzulich, Anne E. Doyle, Lee Torda & Garland Kimmer, English, Bridgewater State College
This presentation illustrates how the teaching/learning connection can be enhanced by the careful implementation of technological resources. It will demonstrate how the current technology enables teachers and students to participate in a larger community of learners than is available in the traditional classroom. The focal point of our work is the introductory writing classroom. Specifically, we are employing technology to develop a multi-media, multi-textual environment in which students learn more effectively.

Room 440
4B * Created for TAs by TAs: The Development of a University-Wide TA Training Program
Jonathan Barber, Center for Effective University Teaching, Robbi Gorman, Psychology, Northeastern University, Melissa Plumb, Office of Academic Support, Daniel Webster College & Mark Franciosa, Center for Effective University Teaching, Northeastern University
This interactive workshop will walk its attendees through the development and implementation of a comprehensive university-wide TA training program developed by TAs for TAs. Attendees will learn to assess the standards of their current TA training program. The presenters will invite discussion regarding problematic issues that arise when trying to guide, educate, and inform TAs in the ways of effective university teaching.

Room 306
4C * Promoting Students' Responsibility and Engagement
Marva Barnett, Teaching Resource Center/French, University of Virginia
In this workshop, participants will learn how to create an environment that encourages students to take responsibility for learning, thus working harder and contributing and learning more. Participants will see how collaboration between teacher and students, as well as teachers' recognizing what students can contribute, promotes student responsibility. Participants will discuss the value of teaching in an explicit fashion, will experience effective techniques that engage students in learning, and will hear what students think about the approach.

Room 406
4D * Teaching Without Preaching: Dealing With Ethical and Political Controversies in the Classroom
Stephen Nathanson, Philosophy & Religion, Northeastern University
Do you include ethical and political controversies in your classes? Have you found them too hot to handle? Do they deflect students from substantive learning? Do students see you as a propagandist? This interactive workshop will analyze problems and demonstrate strategies for dealing with them. Controversial questions are important and educationally valuable. We'll try to see how to get the benefits of hot topics while avoiding the dangers connected to teaching about them.

3:15pm - 4:00pm Concurrent Sessions

Room 340
5A * Design of Hypermedia Using a Learner-Centered Model
Carol Sternberger & Linda Meyer, Nursing, Indiana University - Purdue University, Fort Wayne
Facing diverse student populations, abundance of changing knowledge, greater accountability demands, and decreased sources of funding, educators must explore efficient teaching methodologies. This session describes the process used to develop a CD-Rom, an interactive instructional program, that fosters critical thinking and decision making skills. The framework used to design the CD is based on Gagnes' (1985) instructional design theory and Jeffries' (1997) Hyperlearning Model, supporting the principles of good practice described by Chickering and Gamson (1996).

Room 306
5C * Sharing Biology Success Stories - A Case For Inter-Institutional Cooperation
Terry Webster, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut & Emily Taylor, Biological Sciences, Central Connecticut State University
This presentation will describe a biology project within the Connecticut Teaching and Learning Enhanced by Technology Program. Our project seeks to foster cooperation among colleagues at several institutions, including a community college, four-year state universities, and a four-year research state university. Through meetings and the sharing of "Biology Success Stories," students and faculty gain valuable insights about technology-based teaching and learning. Suggestions for future activities to continue this cooperative effort will be explored.

Room 406
5D * Strategies for Teaching Large Classes Using Ongoing Formative Feedback Throughout the Term
Tino Bordonaro, Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University
Formative feedback strategies that provide college instructors with ongoing feedback on their performance will be reviewed. In this session, instructors of large classes will be encouraged to develop and apply several strategies that will enable them to collect feedback on their effectiveness throughout the term. Examples of these strategies will be presented and suggestions that can assist instructors in the interpretation of the feedback will be provided.

4:15pm - 5:45pm Concurrent Workshops

Room 340
6A * Assessing Critical Thinking Outcomes
Paul Batesel, English & Nannette Bagstad, Education, Mayville State University
In this session the presenters will provide an overview of problems in determining specific critical thinking outcomes, selecting appropriate teaching strategies to meet those outcomes, and creating an instrument to measure the outcomes selected. Participants will take a critical thinking test and will score a student response using a rubric. Participants will be invited to share experiences with assessing critical thinking.

Room 440
6B * Active Learning Made Easy!
Donna M. Qualters, Center for Effective University Teaching, Northeastern University
Active learning has many forms and can often seem overwhelming to institute in a curriculum. This session will explore the different types and degrees of active learning that exist, discuss the elements necessary to truly make a class active, and allow participants to practice some of the techniques. Through reflection, the group will come up with a template for "active classes" and map activities to their current courses. Lastly, we will explore the literature and share ideas to overcome obstacles for making classes active.

Room 306
6C * Staying Focused: Improving Teaching Through Reflective Practice
Robert S. Miller, Education, Meg J. Petersen, English, & Leo R. Sandy, Education, Plymouth State College
This interactive workshop will provide a model that involves a structured, systematic procedure for analyzing and generating solutions for vexing problems that college professors regularly encounter in their classrooms. Using a problem-solving format, the presenters will demonstrate this approach by using a problem that is offered by a workshop presenter or a member of the audience (who will be invited to join the presenters). At each phase of the procedure, audience members will be asked to make comments or ask questions as if they were members of the groups presenting the approach. 

Room 406
6D * KALABOPOLIS: Creative Problem Solving in a Cooperative Setting
Lawrence W. Sherman & Peter Carels, Educational Psychology, Miami University
This experiential and active learning session will focus on creative problem solving in a collaborative setting. Elements of random indeterminacy will be introduced, including objects whose interrelationship and purpose the participants will have to construct as an act of group consensus. Spontaneous, socially derived meanings will be shared among sub-groups, then reflected on through dialogue among all the participants, the result of which will be the establishment of an overarching meaning, one which validates simultaneously the contribution of each sub-group and every individual member. Kalabopolis refers to the organization of community (polity) around these surprise objects, collectively called "kalabs."

Egan Center Raytheon Amphiteatre (Room 240)
6:00pm Reception
Join your colleagues for libation and snacks.

6:30pm Dinner

7:15pm 7 * Plenary Address
Understanding & Encouraging Scholarly Teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Laurie Richlin, President & Conference Director, International Alliance of Teacher Scholars
This presentation will begin a conversation on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. It will be an active, open forum for discussion of questions such as: What is the definition of teaching excellence? of scholarly teaching? of the scholarship of teaching? How are they the same or different from each other? What are the outcomes of scholarly teaching? of the scholarship of teaching? 

Saturday, November 3, 2001

Egan Center Second Floor
8:30am - 2:00pm Registration & Resource Fair Open

9:00am - 10:30am Concurrent Workshops

Room 340
8A * Innovations in Learning and Teaching Styles Assessment
Robbi Gorman, Psychology, Northeastern University & Edgar J. Gorman, Life Counseling Assoicates
This workshop will introduce participants to an innovative leaning and teaching styles measure called the Helix of Environmental Learning Preferences (HELP). This measure is noted for its ease of administration and scoring, and the fact that both teachers and learners can be assessed using the same metric. Participants will be educated about the underlying theory and psychometric properties of the HELP, as well as being instructed in the use of the HELP in varied educational environments.

Room 440
8B * Creative Teaching Environments: A Winning Proposition for Faculty and Students
Michelle Kalis, Kelly P. Kirby & Jennifer Goldman-Levine, School of Pharmacy - Boston, Kate MacDonald, Instructional Resources, & Nicole Nolan, School of Pharmacy - Worcester, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Fostering active learning and student participation in technical, content-rich courses is challenging. Limitations of lectures include: passive learning, minimal student involvement, and the inability to assess students' comprehension. Creative methods to engage students can remedy these challenges. Effective openings, interactive assignments, and participatory reviews reinforce and stimulate active learning. Small group activities foster collaboration and create a positive learning environment. Techniques including window paning, mind mapping, and "parking" questions will be highlighted.

Room 306
8C * What We Talk About When We Talk About Student Learning
Patrice K. Gray, English, John Chetro-Szivos, Communications/Media & A. Lynne Wagner, Nursing, Fitchburg State College
In this workshop, the presenters, who represent various disciplines across the curriculum, will engage participants in a discussion and practice of the Appreciative Inquiry discourse model and its implications for post-secondary education. Appreciative Inquiry is based on the assumptions that the language we use creates our reality and that "communication is the primary process that creates, sustains, and changes our realities." Apreciative Inquiry can help us, as educators, develop a new "grammar" that can lead to changes in the classroom, our perceptions of ourselves as teachers, and in our institutional climates.

Room 406
8D * What Do I Need to Survive Your Class?
Hertha Barrack, Instructional Support Services, Queensborough Community College
Ongoing assessment strategies that take a little faculty time but offer essential feedback regularly will be identified and discussed. Useful connections among faculty, between faculty and students, faculty and administration, and learning services and students can be encouraged for assessment purposes. Activities and handouts will identify how ongoing assessment will create successful outcomes in courses.

10:45am - 11:30am Concurrent Sessions

Room 340
9A * Using the Tools of Web-Based Instruction to Deliver on the Promise of Process Writing and Writing to Learn
Barbara O'Byrne, Reading, Marshall University Graduate College
Critical reading and thoughtful writing often remain illusions in university courses because of a course delivery model that works against process learning. This presentation, based on action research in graduate education classes, demonstrates how the tools of web-based instruction can be used to deliver on the ideals of writing to learn and process writing by actively engaging students in reading and writing tasks throughout the semester.

Room 440
9B * First Do No Harm: Identifying and Reducing Problems in Community Service Learning
Wilfred Holton, Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University
Problems will be explored which can reduce the effectiveness of community service learning by creating negative outcomes for students and for community based organizations. The participants will add to and discuss problems that have been identified through personal experience, reviewing some of the literature, and participating in a community service learning listserv. Ideas will be presented and discussed on how to avoid and/or reduce potential negative consequences in community service learning.

Room 306
9C * Ascertaining Whether Different Types of Learners Are Served Equally Well
John M. Wilkes, Social Science and Policy Studies, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
It is one thing to talk about teaching to a diversity of learning styles and quite another to set up, at an institutional level, to empirically compare the academic experience of different types of learners (as described by the MBTI). We began by identifying who looks best based on SAT scores. Explaining why they are not the academic stars in their first year (nor the students most likely to graduate "on time" in 4 years), led to a reexamination of how to think about student diversity more generally. Considering how professors would try to serve different types of learners equally well is a different discussion when it becomes very specific and has empirical referents.

Room 406
9D * Establishing Faculty Learning Communities on Your Campus
Milton D. Cox, Teaching Effectiveness Programs & Muriel L. Blaisdell, Senior Faculty Learning Community/Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University
Miami University, which has maintained active faculty learning communities (FLCs) for over 20 years, recently has received grants from the Ohio Board of Regents and the Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) to fund the initiation of FLCs on other campuses. In this session, two community leaders will consult with those interested in investigating, designing, and implementing FLCs on their campuses. We also will discuss the connection of FLCs to student learning, faculty development, and institutional culture.

11:45am - 12:30pm Concurrent Sessions

Room 340
10A * Research Skills & Ethics: A Graduate Course Designed to Equip Graduate Students for Success in Graduate School
Patricia Ann Mabrouk, Chemistry, Northeastern University
Recently there has been much concern expressed by professional organizations, academe, and industry concerning the quality and efficacy of graduate education, especially in the sciences. Specific concerns have been expressed regarding students' breadth of knowledge, their awareness of industry and industrial norms, and student ability to think creatively, work effectively in team settings, and communicate their work effectively orally and in writing. In this session, participants will learn about an ongoing effort to address these concerns by teaching first-year graduate students the fundamental so-called "soft skills" required for success in graduate school and beyond. 

Room 440
10B * Reducing Test Anxiety
Sarit Segal, Psychology, Levinsky College of Education
Tests are an inseparable part of our daily life. In the past 20 years, a great body of research has been accumulated on the issue of test anxiety, from Sarason (1980) to Eysenck (1992). The Mofet institute in Tel Aviv developed a program, which has been successfully implemented, for reducing test anxiety. The program is based on a pluralistic approach that regards the classroom as a complex where different students study differently. During the presentation, participants will learn to detect test-anxiety symptoms in their pedagogical context, and enhance the students' performance.

Room 306
10C * Future Educators' Pre-Existing Beliefs Versus Instruction: A Lost Battle?
Marinella Garatti, Foreign Languages & Secondary Education, State Univeristy of New York at New Paltz
Student beliefs have been found to hinder knowledge acquisition in other desciplines. But how inflexible are beliefs in the face of theoretical evidence? In this interactive presentation we will discuss case studies, implications, and ideas for course design.

Room 406
10D * Thinking Reflectively in the Humanities: A Cross-Cultural Study
Marva A. Barnett, Teaching Resource Center/ French, University of Virginia
By comparing perspectives from an ongoing study, participants will learn what American, French, and English teachers and students value as effective thinking and will consider a view of "reflective thinking" that combines aspects of both critical and creative thinking. Participants will gain a clearer idea about what they value as effective thinking, as well as some new techniques for teaching reflective thinking skills, focusing on writing as a means of clarifying thinking.

Egan Center Raytheon Amphitheatre (Room 240)
12:30pm Lunch * Tables by Topic
Sit at the table of your choice. Choose from among:

1. Classroom Assessment/Research

2. Collaborative/Cooperative Learning

3. Creating Learning Communities

4. Evaluating Teaching

5. Ethics in the Classroom

6. Grading

7. Teaching in the Diverse Classroom

8. Teaching in Research-Intensive Universities

9. Technology Across the Curriculum

10. Writing Across the Curriculum

11. Problem-Based Learning

1:30pm - 3:00pm Featured Workshops
We have saved a trio of the "best for last" - four outstanding teaching scholars on three important teaching/learning topics!

Room 340
11A * Teaching Is - The Art of Changing the Brain
James E. Zull, Teaching & Education, Case Western Reserve University
Learning is change in the brain, so teachers must learn the art of producing this change. We will focus on three kinds of brain-change: (a) moldulation of synapse number and synapse strength, (b) change produced by cross talk between the emotional brain and the cognitive brain, and (c) change that comes from using more parts of the brain in learning. The emphasis will be on practical things teachers can do to enhance each of these. 

Room 440
11B * Outcomes Assessment for General Education: Rebuilding The Teaching/Learning Connection
Judith E. Miller, Center for Educational Development, Technology & Assessment, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Thanks to accrediting bodies for requiring outcomes assessment! They are forcing us to shift focus from what courses students complete to what educational experiences produce learning. Participants will choose one learning objective of interest. Working in small groups, they will begin development of a plan to assess the achievement of that objective, and will see new connections between learning and the teaching that promotes it.

Room 306
11C * The Learner's Profile
Lynne Anderson, Education & John Carta-Falsa, Psychology, National University
Through self-discovery activities included in this workshop, participants will share their stories of learning which will be shaped into a composite picture in a learner's profile. Individual awareness of a learner's profile has a profound impact on students (learners/teachers) as well as instructors (teachers/learners). Similarities and differences in those learning profiles will be compared. The implications of those similarities and differences will be discussed relative to higher education.

Egan Center Raytheon Amphitheatre (Room 240)
3:00pm - 3:30pm Closing Session
Laurie Richlin, President & Conference Director, International Alliance of Teacher Scholars
This wrap-up assembly will consider "But what will I do on Monday?!