LEARN Center Workshops 2010-2011
One Day System-wide Conference at UW-Whitewater
The Changing Classroom Climate:
How to Effectively Engage Nontraditional Students in Your Classes
Date: Thursday, April 28, 2011
Time: 12:30pm Lunch Provided
Location: UC 275B
Agenda:
*RSVP by Wednesday, April 21st
This workshop will look at ways that instructors can better serve adult nontraditional students in their classes. We will explore the unique needs of these students and best practices of teaching nontraditional students.
A panel of nontraditional students and instructors will share practices that help or hinder the adult student’s success in the classroom. Students on the panel will also share some of their experiences they’ve had on our campus.
The UW System Growth Agenda seeks to increase the percentage of Wisconsin residents with undergraduate and advanced degrees. As part of this initiative, UW-Whitewater has placed an emphasis on recruiting adult students to campus.
Presented by
Lynn Becker, Assistant Director of Admissions (responsible for adults, veterans,and online recruitment)
Lynn Smith, Student Services Coordinator Adult/Nontraditional Students
Panelists:
Students: Rochelle Day , Cory Tracy & Robin Van Eyll
Faculty: Andrew Ciganek (ITBE), Hien Nguyen (MCS) & Diane Soles (Sociology)
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Departments LEAP-ing Forward:
Tips and Lessons Learned
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Location: UC 275
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
From budget cuts to the national conversation about college students being “academically adrift,” this is an important time for universities to communicate the true value of higher education. Liberal Education & America’s Promise (LEAP), from the Association of American Colleges & Universities, provides practical guidance about the essential elements of a college education, the principles of excellence and inclusion in teaching and learning, and campus-tested assessment devices that are practical for all disciplines. Representatives from eight UW-Whitewater departments traveled last summer to attend an AAC&U Institute aimed at helping campuses use the LEAP framework to inspire improvements in academic programs, and they returned to campus eager to hold conversations in their own departments about the benefits of using LEAP to guide change and improvement.
You are cordially invited to join us as these representatives discuss tips and lessons learned about meaningful ways to implement LEAP in their departments. Where is your department in its journey to implement LEAP? Please join us to share your experiences, ask questions, and engage in this campus conversation aimed at improving the educational experience of all UWW students.
Presented by
Greg Cook, Interim Director of Academic Assessment
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Dangerous Living:
Coming Out in the Developing World
Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Time: 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. , Lunch Included
Location: UC 261
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
This workshop will present some important information on the lives of gays, lesbians, and transgender people living in the developing world. “Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World,” is a feature-length documentary by award-winning filmmaker John Scagliotti. In the last decade of the 20th Century, a new heightened visibility began spreading throughout the developing world and the battles between families, fundamentalist religions, and governments around sexual and gender identity. But in the West, few people knew about this historic social upheaval, until 52 men on Cairo’s Queen Boat discothèque were arrested for crimes of debauchery. That explosive story focused attention to the lives and trials of gay people coming out in the developing world and the film chronicles those events. Our presenter is the filmmaker, John Scagliotti.
John Scagliotti, award-winning filmmaker and radio broadcaster, was the Creator and Executive Producer of the “In the Life” series on PBS. In 1985 Scagliotti produced the documentary “Before Stonewall.” It received two Emmy Awards after its national broadcast on PBS and continues to be broadcast on hundreds of Public Television stations each year.
For more information, see: http://www.afterstonewall.com/1/press_as.html
Presented by
John Scagliotti
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
The Last Lecture
A Continuing Tradition
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Time: Noon
Location: UC 259
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
Becky Hogan is retiring and will be delivering this year’s “last lecture,” her parting thoughts after a long and distinguished career here at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Come, listen, eat a free lunch, and learn from your elder!
Ups, Downs, Circles, Squares: The Changing Shapes of Teaching
“Teaching has been in the news very frequently lately, making us think both seriously and hilariously about what it actually is. Using stories, examples, tricks, and methods garnered over six years as a graduate instructor at University of Colorado Boulder and 27 years here at UW-W, I’ll try to give a few personal insights into this magical, maddening, and downright necessary profession.”
-Becky Hogan
RSVP by Wednesday, April 13th
Presented by
Becky Hogan
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Disability Awareness Day
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Time: Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Location: UC 261
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
On Wednesday, April 13th, we will be hosting a Disability Awareness Day and welcoming LeDerick Horne as our guest speaker.
LeDerick Horne was diagnosed as being neurologically impaired as a child. Since then, he has become a successful spoken word poet, playwright, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and advocate.
You are invited to take part in a discussion on Eliminating Classroom Discrimination and Promoting Universal Accessibility For All. Lunch will be included.
Please feel free to stay after for an informal discussion from 1:00 -1:30 PM
Presented by
LeDerick Horne
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Irreconcilable Differences?
Taking A Closer Look at the NSSE and FSSE Results
Date: Monday, March 28, 2011
Time: Noon – 1:00 p.m.
Location: UC 275A
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
This potentially lively discussion will employ results from the last four administrations of both instruments to compare student responses to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) with faculty responses to the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE). Topics include student and faculty perceptions of: Diversity, student academic involvement; experiential learning; institutional emphasis; student personal and intellectual development; and student-faculty interaction.
Presented by
Ed Furlong
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Responding to Academically Adrift:
What Colleges Can Do
Date: Friday, February 18, 2011
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: Hyland 4303
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
The book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses has set off a national debate on rigor and the college curriculum.
Tracking 2,300 undergraduates at a range of four-year institutions, the research behind the book found that large numbers of students learn little, if anything, in college, face minimal course requirements — and yet graduate. The findings are based on student scores on the Collegiate Learning Assessment, as well as student surveys and transcript analysis. The book calls for colleges to be more demanding of students and more consistent in their requirements (from AAC&U Announcement).
Please join us for this audio conference and discussion with your colleagues, sponsored by the UW-Whitewater LEARN Center. The audio conference will run from Noon – 1:00 and feel free to attend the discussion afterward, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Presented by
Greg Cook
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Digital Storytelling in the
College Classroom: Lessons Learned
Date: Friday, February 11, 2011
Time: 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m.(Lunch Included)
Location: Hyland 4303
Agenda: Please download the flyer for detail agenda
This conference features a teleconference from Jason Ohler, author of Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, & Creativity and Digital Community, Digital Citizen. There will also be a panel discussion of UW System faculty members with significant experience in using digital stories and opportunities for the participants to share and learn with each other.
Presented by
The LEARN Center, UW System Office of Professional and Instructional Development, and UW System Learning Technology Development Council.
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Critical Thinking in UWW Students
Date: Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
Time:12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Location:UC 279A
The development of critical thinking skills is increasingly emphasized as a primary goal of many college majors, as well as being one of LEAP’s Essential Learning Outcomes and an important goal of UW-W’s General Education Program. This session will present data from Spring 2010 on the critical thinking skills of a representative sample of UWW students and compare their performance to national norms. Join our discussion of how critical thinking was assessed, our students’ strengths and challenges, and how we can help UWW students improve these important skills.
Presented by:
Joan Littlefield Cook, Chris Neddenriep, and Barbara Beaver
Psychology Department
Signup:
To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
The Place of UW-Whitewater Students in the NSSE Universe
Date:
Monday,November 1, 2010
Time:
12:00-1:00 p.m.(Lunch Included)
Location:
UC 259A
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) was administered to first and fourth-year students from UW-W nine times during the past ten years. This one-hour discussion will explore how our students compare to those from other institutions that participated in the 2010 National survey. In addition to some 80 main survey questions and associated indices of related questions, the results from our recent participation in the NSSE Writing Consortia will be distributed. Our purpose is to gather feedback from UW-W faculty and instructional staff so that the observed pattern of results may be better understood.
Presenter:
Ed Furlong
Ed Furlong is an Associate Institutional Planner in the Office of the Provost at UW Whitewater. He has worked with the National Survey of Student Engagement since 2000, and this fall he led a multi-campus UW team which selected the supplemental NSSE questions for the 2011 administration. Ed earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Northern Illinois University in 1999 and has worked in various institutional research and assessment capacities at Northern Illinois and Purdue North Central before coming to Whitewater.
Understanding and Supporting Bisexual Students
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Time: 12:30p.m.
Location: UC 259B
As human beings, we reflexively draw conclusions about the people around us, assigning them to categories. This serves a useful purpose, but sometimes our conclusions are incorrect. As educators and student affairs professionals, it’s important to see people as they actually are, not as we imagine them to be. This conversation will focus on one complex identity: bisexuality. What does it mean to identify as bisexual, anyway? Why are there challenges to understanding this identity? What generational changes are we seeing? Why does visibility matter?
Facilitator
Robyn Ochs is a long-time activist, teacher, writer and speaker. Her primary fields of interest are Identity and Coalition Building. She is the editor of the 42-country anthology Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World (www.robynochs.com); and the quarterly newsletter, Bi Women. Robyn has taught courses on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) history and politics in the United States, and the experiences of those who transgress the binary categories of gay/ straight, masculine/feminine, black/white and/or male/female. She is also co-founder and former co-chair of Harvard University’s LGBT Faculty & Staff Group.
Making the Best of Assessment When You Can't Entirely Avoid It
Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: UC 275
UW Whitewater has committed the university to LEAP, a framework for assessing educational programs established in 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. LEAP—which stands for Liberal Education and America’s Promise— emphasizes the liberal arts component of all kinds of post-secondary education, including courses that are primarily technical and career-oriented. Many faculty members find that emphasis attractive in principle but are sometimes less enthusiastic about the way LEAP translates into practice.
LEAP deserves skeptical scrutiny and the AAC&U’s ideals, though superficially wholesome, may not necessarily be the best way to conceptualize the purposes of higher education. But if a university has made an institutional commitment to LEAP, a faculty member faces more immediate challenges than considering the philosophical and policy implications of the program. How do faculty members make some constructive use of the LEAP framework? Can the logic of LEAP-ing be bent to good purposes? This workshop will look at ways in which faculty members can turn assessment tools from being obstructive nuisances into occasional opportunities for improvement.
Facilitator
Peter W. Wood, President of the National Association of Scholars, based in Princeton, New Jersey. He previously served as provost of The King’s College in New York City, and as associate provost and president’s chief of staff at Boston University, where he was also an associate professor of anthropology.
Dr. Wood has had extensive involvement with college accreditation and the assessment movement. Dr. Wood’s essays on American culture and higher education have appeared in Partisan Review, The Claremont Review of Books, Society and many other journals. He is the author of two books, A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now (2007) and of Diversity: The Invention of a Concept (2003).
Teaching in a Virtual World
Date: Thursday, October 7, 2010
Time: 12:30 - 1:30
Location: UC 259A
If you asked me a year ago whether teaching an online philosophy course was wise, I would have said “No” without hesitation. However after teaching an entire course in Second Life last summer, I wouldn’t dream of teaching another online course without the virtual world. Second Life® is a free, 3-dimensional, multi-user, online, virtual world program created in 2003 by Linden Research Inc. In this workshop, I recount the course I taught in Second Life and address four areas of interest: (1) traditional vs. non-traditional learning environments, (2) communication, (3) illustrative props, and (4) student feedback. My conclusion is that courses can be taught online in Second Life effectively and that instructors need to be more aware of the educational possibilities of Second Life as education becomes increasingly more digital.
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Facilitator
Chris Calvert-Minor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
Making Sure Students Give College a Chance
Date: Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
Time: 12:30 - 1:30
Location: UC 261
The majority of students who drop out of UW-Whitewater in their first year do so in the first six to eight weeks of school. They don't make it to Homecoming. In this workshop, faculty and Student Affairs staff will share common warning signs for students in peril of dropping out and strategies that can be used so that students do not quit before they really get started.
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Presenter
Jim Winship, Department of Social Work
Build Community and Engagement with Online Discussions
Date: Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Time: 9:00 a.m. to Noon
Location: UC 259
Great discussions that engage students in learning and building community are the heart of most online or hybrid courses. For instructors, facilitating a lively online discussion and encouraging students to participate may seem overwhelming. This workshop is designed to introduce you to online discussion development, facilitation, and assessment.
We will discuss and demonstrate examples of online discussion assignments, rubrics, and feedback using the D2L Discussion Forum.
Participants will construct a discussion question, develop brief guidelines for student participation in the discussion, and draft a rubric or strategy for evaluating and providing feedback to student discussion posts.
Faculty will gain access to D2L discussion examples, as well as a variety of discussion-related resources.
At the conclusion of this workshop, you will be able to:
•Evaluate examples of how online discussion forums can build community and encourage student & faculty engagement.
•Develop online discussion questions that generate dynamic interaction between and among students & faculty.
•Plan how to foster a successful online discussion.
•Identify which types of discussion questions work well in an online environment and which ones do not.
•Apply suggestions for crafting good discussion questions.
•Construct guidelines for online discussion and evaluation.
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Speakers:
Renee Pfeifer-Luckett, Director, Learning Technology Center
Karen Skibba, Instructional Design Specialist, Learning Technology Center
Critical Thinking In UWW Students
Date: Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Time: 10:00 - 11:30
Location: UC 261
The development of critical thinking skills is increasingly emphasized as a primary goal of many college majors, as well as being one of LEAP’s Essential Learning Outcomes and an important goal of UW-W’s General Education Program. This session will present data from Spring 2010 on the critical thinking skills of a representative sample of UWW students and compare their performance to national norms. Join our discussion of how critical thinking was assessed, our students’ strengths and challenges, and how we can help UWW students improve these important skills.
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Breaking Down Silos & Living a Shared Vision of Excellence
Date: Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Time: 9:30 a.m. & 10:00-11:30 a.m.
Location: UC 275
The importance of breaking down silos and living a shared vision of excellence - including a noble sense of purpose, a deep commitment to core values, a culture of making a difference, and intentional and informed decision making will be the focus of this workshop. The status of several key University initiatives will be discussed. Participants will be asked for feedback regarding a variety of issues.
All faculty and staff will be welcomed to the beginning of a new academic year and new faculty and staff will be introduced.
Please join the Provost and your colleagues at 9:30 a.m. for coffee, conversation, and networking prior to the workshop.
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Facilitator
Provost Beverly Kopper
Renewing Liberal Education at UW-Whitewater
Date: Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Time: 1:00 - 2:00p.m.
Location: UC 275
Across the country a variety of colleges and universities are rededicating themselves to liberal education. As part of this initiative the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), under the title LEAP (Liberal Education, America’s Promise), has identified some key learning outcomes and high impact educational practices that they believe can guide our work in this regard.
Last year the faculty senate, academic staff assembly, student senate, and others endorsed the idea that we should join this effort. What does that mean for us? How will we do it? Who will be involved?
This workshop will seek to provide you with information regarding UWW’s efforts to renew liberal education, LEAP, the key learning outcomes, the high impact educational practices, and to continue the discussion among various faculty and staff of how best to educate our students in the coming decades.
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”
Facilitator
Baccalaureate Learning Team
Mary Pinkerton, Tom Rios, Greg Cook, Jane Ferencz, Lois Smith, & Greg Valde