The Center for Teaching & Learning

Hello, colleagues! I hope you are settling into the new spring semester. As you continue to navigate challenging times, your CTL advisory board is working hard to make Fridays for Faculty. You might be thinking "happy hour!" Well, the CTL budget is not that big, nor are conditions conducive to such gatherings during a pandemic. However, that does not mean we cannot enjoy learning together.

On Fridays, when a faculty meeting is not scheduled, the CTL is planning to host one of several opportunities focused on the scholarship of teaching: a tea-n-talk, a vendor training on teaching/advising software we currently own, a guest speaker on a relevant topic, or an hour-long workshop with one of the many content experts we have in our ranks. Be sure to review all the upcoming opportunities in the SCHEDULED section below.

Going forward, at the end of each week, THINK: Fridays are for faculty! I wonder what the CTL has cooked up for us this afternoon? Read on to find out what's in the queue for the coming months, then pull up a chair with your favorite beverage and enjoy!

The CTL is launching its own Facebook (Fb) group for Hood faculty and staff. This private group will serve up timely research and strategies focused on effective teaching, mentoring and advising. It will also be a place for members of our learning community to share ideas, accomplishments, lessons learned, goals, and more.

If you have not received an invitation yet to join our CTL Fb group, please do a search when you're logged into Fb for "Center for Teaching and Learning @ Hood College," and request to join. If you have trouble locating us, simply email CTL@hood.edu and request an invitation--be sure to include your Facebook handle so we can send the invite your way. Since this a private group, membership is controlled by CTL administrators. Once you are a member, you can invite your Hood colleagues to join as well.

Meet our wonderful CTL graduate assistant, Erum Marfani! Erum is finishing her master's in math education. She graduated with honors from UMBC and earned dual-degrees: a B.A. in math and a B.A. with honors in political science. After working for the Peace Corps Headquarters in D.C. for a time, she returned to UMBC to earn her master's in statistics. From there, she worked as a statistician for the Census Bureau.

Erum has always been passionate about education, so she transitioned to teaching mathematics at Frederick Community College in 2010. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, volunteering, crocheting, reading, and learning about other faiths and cultures. She is also quite the Anglophile and enjoys all things British. Erum's talents are invaluable to the CTL, and we are grateful for her dedication and support!

Dr. Ashish Chakradhar, an assistant professor of chemistry and Christian Wagner, a senior undergraduate student in the department of chemistry and physics are working on a research, which investigates the industrial process for removing sulfur from fuel. This is a joint collaboration between Hood College and University of South Dakota, and this research project will help develop cleaner fuels--a billion-dollar industry. In addition, increasing environmental concerns have necessitated the goal to lower sulfur-containing hydrocarbons in transportation fuels.

Research in a pandemic has been challenging, but rewarding. Through consistent use of PPE equipment and detailed instructions that permit my advanced undergraduate to conduct some of the research in the lab independently, we have been able to make significant progress on this project, despite COVID constraints. My advice to faculty wishing to continue their hands-on research projects during this pandemic, which has challenged our responsibilities but strengthened our compassion, REMEMBER: perseverance always finds a way to win.

Being able to understand the basic motivations of different personality types can help you communicate with and relate to others. Everyone has innate fears and desires; we may seem different on the surface, but in reality, we are all seeking similar things: connection, understanding, support, and acceptance. When you know a bit about what makes people tick, it can help you relate to and empathize with them.

Click here to take the test.

A year of ingenuity, adaptation, perseverance, and incalculable loss put a spotlight on science and scientists. We examine what the process taught us and how it could affect science going forward.

Read the full article here.

“The only protection against demagoguery is education,” Delbanco said, not “ideological indoctrination, not technical training, but humane education that helps people grasp the experience of others different from themselves.”

Read full article here.

Most students arrive at college with serious misconceptions about effective learning strategies. In this episode, Dr. Linda Nilson joins us to examine what we as faculty can do to help students develop their metacognitive skills and become self-regulated learners.

Dr. Nilson is the founding director of the Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation at Clemson University. She is the author of many superb books, book chapters, and articles on teaching and learning. In this episode we focus on discussing one of her books: Creating Self-regulated Learners: Strategies to Strengthen Students’ Self-awareness and Learning Skills.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) condemns all forms of systemic racism, bias, and aggression against Black people, indigenous peoples, people of color, and those of marginalized genders, as well as discrimination based on socioeconomic status. We understand that excellence in teaching, by definition, must reflect our shared humanity and promote inclusive practices such as:

• being conscious of biases, racial abuse, micro-aggressions, and those who are minimized or left out;
• understanding and supporting those underrepresented in our Hood community; and
• promoting ways to actively foster equity, diversity and inclusion in our classrooms, research, and publications.

The CTL is determined to raise awareness of all those who have been systematically oppressed and call upon Hood faculty to join us in this commitment to create a more inclusive world. As members of the CTL Advisory Board, we stand united and affirm that Black Lives Matter.

College faculty are exhausted and concerned the pandemic is widening gaps in student success and equity, per a recent survey of more than 850 instructors teaching introductory courses.

Click here to read full article.

Have you ever been in class and had the feeling that you were riding a train headed off the rails? Many faculty know this feeling, when something is said and before you know it, the discussion has taken on a life of its own and emotions are running high. How can we use difficult conversations in the classroom with students to foster critical thinking, address challenging topics, and demonstrate how to have controversy with civility?

The Vanderbilt Center for Teaching offers guidance for faculty. One of the first steps is to think ahead about your course content and learning objectives. Consider what topics might be difficult and how including them in discourse will enhance learning. Setting the tone early in the semester is crucial. Encouraging students to get to know one another and to identify ground rules for class discussions are methods for creating a class that is prepared for difficult discussions. When things come up in class that impact students in unexpected or unanticipated ways, it can be helpful to pause and have students write down how they are feeling.

There are tools that can be used in class when a difficult conversation arises that can help get the train back on the tracks! Some examples are the “Five Minute Rule,” “The Fishbowl Exercise," and the “Critical Incident Questionnaire.” These are explained in this linked handout from the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt, which offers guidance on navigating such difficult conversations and converting them into powerful learning and growth opportunities.

Are you auto-saving your Zoom chats?
The chat feature in Zoom is one of the easiest ways to get students engaged and talking during an online or bimodal class. But sometimes you just can’t keep up with all of the questions and comments there (even if you’ve asked a student to help out by being “the voice of the chat”!). So here’s an easy way to be sure you can always go back and review the chat after any class session: set up your Zoom chats to auto-save! To do this:

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.

2. Click Settings.

3. Go to the In Meeting (Basic) section and click the toggle switch to enable Auto saving chats.

This way you (as the meeting host) will have the chat saved directly to your computer and you can go back to review the chat at a later time. Don’t worry – the chat won’t save for any of your students; just for you. ;-)

Happy February! Congratulations on surviving your first week of class. This month’s column will focus again on tips to engage your students.

1. Create a threat-free environment
While students do need to understand that there are consequences to their actions, far more motivating for students than threats are positive reinforcements. When teachers create a safe, supportive environment for students, affirming their belief in a student’s abilities rather than laying out the consequences of not doing things, students are much more likely to get and stay motivated to do their work. At the end of the day, students will fulfill the expectations that the adults around them communicate, so focus on can, not can’t.

2. Offer varied experiences.

Not all students will respond to lessons in the same way. For some, hands-on experiences may be the best. Others may love to read books quietly or to work in groups. In order to keep all students motivated, mix up your lessons so that students with different preferences will each get time focused on the things they like best. Doing so will help students stay engaged and pay attention.
3. Allow students to work together

While not all students will jump at the chance to work in groups, many will find it fun to try to solve problems, do experiments, and work on projects with other students. Social interaction can get them excited about things in the classroom and students can motivate one another to reach a goal. Teachers need to ensure that groups are balanced and fair, however, so that some students aren’t doing more work than others.
4. Encourage self-reflection

Most kids want to succeed; they just need help figuring out what they need to do in order to get there. One way to motivate your students is to get them to take a hard look at themselves and determine their own strengths and weaknesses. Students are often more motivated by creating these kinds of critiques of themselves than by having a teacher do it for them, as it makes them feel in charge of creating their own objectives and goals. See Metacognitive Prompts for Students to Reflect On Their Learning.
Credits: 21 Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation by TeachThought Staff.

This 12-minute video shows you how to annotate in Zoom. It is one of the most popular questions faculty have had from the fall semester. Click here to access the video.

Do you have a question about technology or teaching? Send an email to CTL@hood.edu, and on every Friday, we'll answer the question most broadly applicable across departments. When you email your question, let us know if you'd like to remain anonymous, use a fun sign-off moniker of your choosing (akin to the Dear Abby column), or list your name. All questions welcomed!

The digital divide, digital equity, and digital accessibility are not new concerns in higher education, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced many institutions to confront these issues head-on with renewed efforts and innovative strategies. Uncover the complex factors that underlie these evolving divides and discover how institutions can promote student success as they implement extensive, remote-learning programs. Hear from Inside Higher Ed's technology reporter and editor about the advice higher ed learning experts and others shared with our team during our upcoming FREE webcast. Attendees will be able to ask questions during a live Q&A portion of the webcast.

Webcast Title: Bridging the Digital Divide: Lessons From COVID-19
Webcast Date: Tuesday, February 23, at 2:00 pm ET
Can't attend the webcast? You should still register - all registrants will receive a recording of the webcast and a copy of the presentation.

Email: ctl@hood.edu
Website: www.hood.edu/CTL
Location: Hood College, Rosemont Avenue, Frederick, MD, USA
Phone: (301) 663-3131