LEARN Center

LEARN Center Workshops 1998-1999

Thursday, 11 March 1999

What Must Go Right, What Can Go Wrong: Faculty Experiences with Grant Writing

12:30pm-1:30pm, University Center, South Commons

Grant writing continues to become increasingly significant in the professional development of faculty and academic instructional staff. Join three faculty members who have secured extramural grants as they discuss their experiences with:

Conceptualizing a project;
Submitting a proposal;
Administrating a grant;
Complete a final project.

Denise Ehlen from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will join the three panelists to answer questions and discuss the grant-writing process.

Panelists:

Rick Lombard, Professor of Special Education; Star Olderman, Associate Professor of Women's Studies; Meg Waraczynski, Associate Professor of Psychology.

Tuesday, 23 February 1999

Going to School on Primary Trait Analysis

12:30pm to 1:30pm, South Commons, University Center

All faculty and academic teaching staff who are interested in gaining hands-on experience with Primary Trait Analysis are invited to attend.

Barbara Walvoord has introduced our campus to the Primary Trait Analysis (PTA). PTA allows instructors to be explicit about what is expected when evaluating student work, and has the potential to help faculty assess the impact of classroom activities on student learning. This workshop will offer faculty the opportunity to score a piece of student work, using a set of pre-developed primary traits, to return their anonymous ratings for compilation and analysis, and to gather to as a group to discuss the ratings and the evaluation process in a safe environment.

To reserve a spot for the session, participants will evaluate a sample assignment using PTA, and return the evaluation to the LEARN Center Office (Roseman Building, Room 2031) by Wednesday, 17 February 1999. The data from the evaluations will be compiled and used to key discussion about the consistency of the ratings, and the benefits and limitations of PTA.

Thursday, 14 January 1999

Madness Behind Our Methods: Values and Teaching

1:00pm-2:30pm, University Center, South Commons

This engaging and interactive workshop, designed for all faculty and academic teaching staff, will examine how one's implicit assumptions about education impacts teaching and student learning. After a brief discussion of the five "isms" of education, attendees will reflect on their own teaching philosophy and practices, sharing thoughts about how their values affects what they ask their students to do inside and outside of the classroom.

Facilitator:

Greg Valde, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, was the recipient of the 1997 Roseman Award Winner for Teaching Excellence, and is the UWW faculty representative to the University of Wisconsin System Teaching Improvement Council.

Wednesday, 13 January 1999

Eating a Free Lunch & Launching Your Own Web Page

Noon to 4:00pm

This hands-on workshop is designed for faculty and academic teaching staff who want to quickly and simply launch their first web page. If you have never put anything on-line, but you use a word processor, this session is for you.

What do I need to do to attend?

First, you need to contact the LEARN Center (X5242; learn@uww.edu) to reserve a spot. Please reserve a spot by Wednesday, 6 January 1999. Participants are asked to bring, on disc, materials that they would like included on their web site (e.g., personal information, vita items, course syllabus, course assignments, etc.).

Where will the workshop be held?

The session will begin with a lunch in the South Commons and move to reserved portions of the Anderson Labs capable of supporting both PC and Mac users.

Who will lead the session?

The session will be lead by Roger Yin and Dan Norris of TI&R, with support from student assistants.

What will I learn/do?

Participants will leave having designed and launched their own web page. They will be capable of updating their page when necessary. More specifically, attendees will:

learn about personal web pages and their place on the UW-Whitewater web site;
convert their word processing documents, and format their web page using Netscape Composer; and
put their newly designed web pages on-line.

Monday, 11 January 1999

Session #1: Improving Learning in Writing-Intensive Courses

Hamilton Center: 9:00am to Noon; 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Designed for instructors of courses that require a significant amount of student writing. This session will focus on integration of an assignment-based syllabus and establishing benchmarks of writing quality.

Session #2: Making Grading Conducive to Learning, Part II: Application and Follow-up

This session is a follow-up to the popular Fall 1998 session. Participants should bring syllabi and assignments, as time will be spent drafting a primary trait scale and redesigning syllabi concordant with assignment-based principles.

Facilitator:

Dr. Barbara Walvoord is an award-winning Professor of English and Director of the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Notre Dame. Her work on course planning, student motivation, writing across disciplines, grading, and assessment has been widely published, and presented in highly interactive workshops at universities and faculty development forums around the United States.

Tuesday, 17 November 1998

Leading Discussions, Part III: "A Simple Method for Leading On-Line Discussions"

3:45pm – 5:00pm, McGraw 120

You don't have to offer an on-line class to profit from the use of on-line discussions. The asynchronous, on-line discussion is a tool that provides a unique venue for student participation, preserves valuable contact time and provides instructors with a written chronicle of what students think and understand. Participants at this session will:

learn about using listserv as a tool for on-line discussion;
examine the benefits and challenges of on-line discussions; and
identify strategies for making on-line discussions profitable.

Facilitator:

Dr. Ken Macur, Associate Professor in the Accounting Department, two-time winner of the Leon Hermsen College of Business & Economics Teaching Award.

Tuesday, 27 October 1998

Leading Discussions, Part II: "Discussions in Large Classes Don't Have to Flow Like Molasses"

3:45pm – 5:00pm, University Center, South Commons

A workshop for instructors who face sizable numbers of reticent students. The large class presents its own unique set of challenges for any professor. This session will:

examine the dynamics of the large class;
identify ways to build in-class discussion to promote learning in large classes; and
illustrate strategies for increasing participation.

Facilitator:

Dr. Jim Winship, Associate Professor in the Social Work Department, Former Director of the UW-W Teaching Enhancement Center.

Workshops

Thursday, 27 August 1998

"I Taught It, But They Forgot It": Memory and Human Learning

McGraw 125, 9:00am - 10:10am

Why don't students remember more of what we teach them? This popular U.T.I.C. workshop uses contemporary research on memory as a context for discussing why some teaching practices undermine, and others enhance student recall.

Facilitator:

Greg Valde, 1997 Roseman Award Winner, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations

Help Has Arrived: LEARN Center Assistance with Academic Assessment

McGraw 122, 9:00am - 10:10am

This session—designed for department chairs and assessment committees—will provide a forum for departments to discuss assessment challenges and find out about how the LEARN Center can assist with assessment initiatives.

Facilitator:

Steve Friedman, Acting Associate Dean of UW-W LEARN Center, Chair of UW-W University Assessment Committee

"Does Anyone Have a Response to That Question?": Making Class Discussions Work

Leading class discussions with an often reticent study body is no small chore. This useful session examines the dynamics of class discussions and tactics for making them work.

Facilitator:

Jim Winship, Associate Professor of Social Work, Former Director of UW-W Teaching Enhancement Center

Finding Funding: Fast Ways to Finance Your Professional Development

McGraw 120, 10:20am - 11:30am

Locating campus-based and external sources to pay for professional development initiatives is an ever-present challenge. This session will talk about UW-W and UW System funding opportunities, as well as introduce participants to effective SPIN searching.

Facilitator:

Ken Macur, Chair of UW-W Faculty Development Committee, Associate Professor of Accounting; and Denise Ehlen, UW-W Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Tuesday, 25 August 1998

Making Grading Fair, Efficient, and Conducive to Student Learning

North Commons, University Center, 8:30am-4:30pm

Evaluating student performance remains one of the most important and time-consuming tasks of university instructors. Some faculty estimate as much as 75% of their non-contact time is spent grading and responding to student work completed inside or outside of the classroom. This workshop will provide participants with a tool to assist in making the evaluation and feedback process more efficient, more objective, and more likely to result in student learning.

Workshop participants will engage in hands-on activities as they become familiar with:

establishing and stating clear and useful evaluation criteria using Primary Trait Analysis
evaluating student work fairly and consistently against such criteria
using the criteria to save time and enhance student performance relative to course objectives
applying the evaluation system given the unique demands of their assignments and disciplines