LEARN Center Workshops 2000-2001
Monday, 23 April 2001
Next Steps in Using SPSS Windows: Some Simple Statistical Tests
Winther Hall, WITRIC LAB (1st Floor), Noon-1:00pm
Part of the Developing as a Teacher/Scholar Series
This session is a natural follow-up to the introduction/refresher course held on 9 April, or will serve as a good review or summary for more intermediate users. This session will focus on interpreting SPSS output beginning with t-tests (where the 9 April session left off) and moving into analysis of variance (ANOVA). Some basic familiarity with these statistical procedures will be useful. Simple data pools will be provided by Dr. Steve Friedman.
Facilitator:
Steve Friedman, Professor of Educational Foundations, and Co-Director of the LEARN Center.
Monday, 9 April 2001
An Introduction (Or Refresher) to SPSS Windows
Winther Hall, WITRIC LAB (1st Floor), Noon-1:00pm
Part of the Developing as a Teacher/Scholar Series
Whether you're planning a new research project, altering your scholarly agenda, or looking for ways to analyze data you've already collected, this workshop can help. Participants will be (re)introduced to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), designed for Windows.
This experiential session will lead attendees through fundamental phases of entering data, running simple descriptive data, and drawing preliminary conclusions from the data. Participants are invited to bring their own data or use a simple data pool provided by Dr. Steve Friedman.
Facilitator:
Steve Friedman, Professor of Educational Foundations, and Co-Director of the LEARN Center.
Wednesday, 14 March 2001
Some Thoughts on Achieving Excellence in Teaching
University Center, South Commons
Part of the Roseman Award Winners on Teaching Series
Achieving excellence in the art of teaching requires a dynamic combination of attitudes and approaches, and an unremitting commitment to identifying those elements. During this session, Professor Emeritus, Bob Burrows, will begin with a discussion of the attitudes and approaches he discovered were most important to his own success in the classroom—using these observations as a catalyst for reaction and self-examination among the participants.
Facilitator:
Bob Burrows, Professor of English Emeritus (1965-1993). He was recipient of the Roseman Award for Excellence in Teaching; the David Saunders Award for Excellence in Teaching the Humanities; and the University of Wisconsin System Award for Teaching Excellence.
Thursday, 18 January 2001
Waking Up Generation Zzzzzzzzz
South Commons, University Center, Noon to 2:00pm
The significance of motivation to the learning process has long been understood. From pre-school age children to the elderly, there has proven to be a strong correlation between one's desire to learn and achievement of learning outcomes. This is particularly true in post-secondary settings where, significantly, the literature student evaluations indicates that "motivating students to learn" is a skill most students wish faculty were more adept at.
This session will present research-based strategies for enhancing college student motivation. Suggestions will be based on motivation research, the literature on student evaluations of instruction, and interview research with college students. In addition, participants will interact with each other regarding strategies they have found effective with UW-Whitewater students.
Facilitator:
Dr. Pam Clinkenbeard, professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, and Dr. Sally Vogl-Bauer, an assistant professor from the Department of Communication. Both individuals conduct basic research in student motivation, and have presented on this topic previously.
Tuesday, 16 January 2001
"Whom Do We Teach in the Year 2000?"
South Commons, University Center, Noon to 3:00pm
The Sequel: Focusing on Instructional Strategies
One of the most widely attended instructional development workshops during the short history of the LEARN Center was Cathy Helgeland's, Whom Do We Teach? How Do We Do It Better?, held in August 2000. Those who attended the session reported that they developed a richer understanding of the attitudes, values and behaviors of the Generation Y student. However, they also wanted to learn more about specific instructional strategies that fuel learning in this unique demographic group.
In this session, participants will take a closer look at the learning tendencies of Generation Y. Helgeland shares practices and perspectives she uses in a number of her courses that appear to resonate with this new generation of student. She also invites participants to contribute wisdom based on their own experiences with this group.
Facilitators:
Catherine Helgeland is a Professor of Geography and Geology for the University of Wisconsin Colleges at Manitowoc. In 1997, she was a recipient of The Regents Teaching Excellence Award—an award also recently made to her academic department.
Tuesday, 28 November 2000
Are You Normal?
12:30pm-1:30pm, South Commons, University Center
A Look at the National Norms from the Higher Education Research Institute Faculty Survey
- What was your primary motive for pursuing an academic career?
- What are your most significant sources of stress?
- What do you think is the most important goal of undergraduate education?
- Has your career been interrupted for family reasons?
- Do you grade on a curve?
- Do you plan on working past the age of 70?
Come and compare your responses to these and other questions with the sometimes surprising answers of other faculty working at comprehensive universities from around the United States. Discussion will focus on what the collective responses suggest about the evolving purposes, priorities and problems of college-level teaching.
Facilitators:
Steve Friedman, Co-Director of LEARN Center, Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations; John Stone, Co-Director of LEARN Center, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication.
Wednesday, 11 October 2000
Faculty Panel: The Sabbatical
University Center, South Commons, Noon-1:00pm
If you're committed to (or even considering) applying for single semester or full academic year sabbatical during the 2001-2002 academic year, this workshop is for you. Panelists will briefly discuss their sabbatical experience, and detail what they would do differently were they to apply for sabbatical again. Roger Yin, a former member of the Academic Development Committee, and Denise Ehlen from the Research and Sponsored Programs Office, will be there to answer questions about the application and selection process.
Note: Deadline for application for 2001-2002 faculty sabbaticals in 1 November 2000. Departmental deadlines for sabbatical applications are likely to precede this.
Panel Members:
- William Chandler, Department of Curriculum and Instruction (Full Year 1999-2000)
- John Patterson, Department of Geography and Geology (Spring 1999)
- Bob Schramm, Department of Business Education (Fall 1997)
Workshops
Thursday, 31 August 2000
Adding Audio and Video to On-Line Lectures
8:45am -10:00am McGraw 115
(Part of the LEARN Center's Using Technology Series)
Much like in the traditional classroom, variety in delivery methods is essential to effective distance learning. This session will teach participants how to use ScreenCam to record audio and video for use in web-based learning. Space is limited for this session. To reserve a spot, contact the LEARN Center at X5210; (learn@uww.edu).
Facilitator:
Bob Schramm, Professor in the Department of Business Education, Technology Specialist for the LEARN Center.
Reflective College Teaching
8:45am – 10:00am McGraw 117
(Part of the Roseman Winners on Student Learning Series)
Teaching requires instructors to make hundreds of planned and impromptu decisions—decisions that directly affect what, if and how students learn. As such, it is a process that is particularly subject to critical self-reflection. In this interactive session, participants will discuss what it means to be a "reflective teacher," and discuss how to make critical reflection a recurrent and beneficial part of the teaching process.
Facilitator:
Brenda O'Beirne, Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, and winner of the 1999 W.P. Roseman Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Finding Funding for Instructional Research
8:45am – 10:00am McGraw 120
Nation-wide interest in developing a "Scholarship of Teaching" has prompted growth in both journals devoted to publishing pedagogical research and in sources providing funding to support instructional research. This session will survey campus-based, UW System-based, and national sources of funding available to help faculty and staff secure funds to conduct classroom-based and non-classroom based research.
Facilitator:
Denise Ehlen, Director of Research and Sponsored Programs.
Give Me Three Good Reasons to Use Case Studies
10:15am -11:30am McGraw 120
Case studies, ranging from brief descriptions of single incidents used to spark discussion, to lengthy monographs that may cover several class sessions, are widely used in many academic disciplines. Participants will discuss the value of this important tool and explore its utility in courses that have primarily emphasized lecture and discussion. Case method resources will be shared.
Facilitator:
Jon Werner, Associate Professor in Department of Management, was a participant in the 1999 UWW Teaching Scholars Program.
Generation Y as College Students
10:15am -11:30am McGraw 117
This workshop is both a follow-up and anecdote to Cathy Helgeland's workshop from earlier in the week. Building on the work of Arthur Levine, this entertaining and thought-provoking session will examine the values and attitudes of our current generation of students, with an eye-toward how these items influence the process of student learning.
Facilitators:
Sandi Scott Duex, Assistant Director of Residence Life and Director of Residential Education.
New Ideas In Departmental Assessment
10:15am -11:30am McGraw 121
Departments have employed a number of strategies for gathering assessment information. This session focuses on effective techniques (as described by the faculty who have developed/used them) for documenting the extent to which objectives for student performance are being accomplished.
Facilitator:
Steve Friedman is a Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, and Co-Director of the LEARN Center.
Tuesday, 29 August 2000
Who Do We Teach in the Year 2000? How Do We Do it Better?
9:00am to Noon, Continental Breakfast Served, Hamilton Center
"Today's professors are faced with the challenge of instructing 18-year-olds who may not share their values or work ethic; who cannot read, write, speak, or do math proficiently, or who do not know how to behave appropriately. In the same classroom are non-traditional-age students with different agendas.... [Both groups] are unsure of themselves as students but are not afraid to question or challenge. They are investing hard-earned or borrowed dollars in their education and demand a return for their money."
-- Sharon Baiocco and Jamie DeWaters, Successful College Teaching, 1998, pp. 3-4.
The observations of Baiocco and DeWaters underscore that the challenges facing university-level instructors are different than they were as recently as ten years ago. The continuing evolution in preparation and disposition of the student body gives rise to a number of important questions: How do we use the strengths of our students to produce effective learning? How do we compensate for, or overcome, their weaknesses? What can we expect from our students, given the many demands on their time? How do we educate our students to the level we demand, without alienating them and forcing them from our university? How do we function without compromising our standards? Can we?
During this highly interactive, engaging and thought-provoking session, faculty will share their experiences and perspectives, and discuss possible answers to these vexing questions.
Facilitator:
Catherine Helgeland is a Professor of Geography and Geology for the University of Wisconsin Colleges at Manitowoc. She has worked in the University of Wisconsin System for 25 years and, in 1997, was a recipient of The Regents Teaching Excellence Award. She has been actively involved in faculty development for over a decade and currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the UW System Office of Professional and Instructional Development (OPID, formerly UTIC).