Let's Talk Teaching

CTLT's Charles Bristow returns with good news about the next update to ReggieNet, Illinois State University's customized learning management system... including the debut of a long-awaited new feature! Charles and Jim take a look at the new Rubrics tool, discuss an updated, cleaner interface for managing Tests & Quizzes, and more. Learn all you need to know about changes and improvements that await you for the start of the Fall 2019 semester.

We celebrate our 50th episode with a discussion about THAT phrase… the buzz word of buzz words in the college teaching profession: active learning. We always hear about it, we often talk about it… but are we really doing it? Jim and Claire unpack this ubiquitous phrase and explore examples of what it actually looks like. They highlight the three different components that make active learning "active" and the different ways of introducing students to the trio. Along the way, you'll hear some metaphors being tortured and a potential jeremiad about ham-and-pineapple pizza… but all in the name of helping our students to learn!

Dreading all of that grading at the end of the semester? Wish you could snap your fingers and make it all go away? Claire and Jim explore how much feedback your students really need after those final exams and projects are turned in. They discuss ways of putting a final flourish on their learning without burying yourself under a mountain of feedback that, let’s face it, they may never see.

Claire is teaching a new graduate course this semester, and she says her fresh approach to it is "life changing." She's shifted her methods so her students replace her at the center of their learning. We'll discuss what she's doing in detail and how it can be applied to other classes. Plus, Jim ponders a mystery: Why has this semester seen a jump in absenteeism and late work? All that and more in a podcast which, despite this episode's title, can't afford to license that song from Disney!

What are your students really thinking? In this episode, we discuss CTLT Director Claire Lamonica's new research into Midterm Chats, also known as Small Group Instructional Diagnoses. She provides a preliminary look at how faculty members at Illinois State believe this process improves their teaching. Also, Claire and Jim talk about the importance of making little changes, instead of wholesale revision, to one's teaching.

We take a first look at the theme for the 2019 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium, Contemplative Teaching: Connecting Meaning, Purpose, and Values. Dana Karraker joins us to talk about this wide-ranging approach to making teaching a first-person act. We also talk mindfulness, posters, sessions, and preview both our keynote speaker’s morning workshop and luncheon talk. Plus, breaking news as Claire learns something unexpected about dessert. The 2019 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium will be held on Wednesday, January 9, at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in uptown Normal. The event is free for faculty, staff, and graduate students at Illinois State and other area institutions. Find out more and register before Friday, December 14, at CTLT.IllinoisState.edu/Symposium.

We take a deep dive into the concepts surrounding critical thinking. What is it and how do you know it when you see it? And just how do you get your students to do it? Jeff Rients, Senior Teaching and Learning Specialist at Temple University (and former CTLT graduate assistant) helps us explore critical thinking from a basic definition to advanced ways to assess it as a course-level goal. We also discuss how to incorporate it into your class without reinventing the proverbial wheel.

We kick off our Fall 2018 season with a look at ReggieNet, Illinois State University's customized learning management system. Instructional Developer Charles Bristow joins Jim Gee to discuss new features like the Attendance and Commons tool, introduced in the latest system upgrade. Plus, they look at some long-requested improvements to popular tools like Assignments, Tests & Quizzes, and the Gradebook. They also hint at a future improvement to ReggieNet that almost made it into this update, something exciting enough that Jim makes his happy teacher sound.

Dr. Bill Anderson, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, is one of the 2017 Outstanding University Teaching Award winners. In this jam-packed episode, Bill and Jim explore the power of interrupted case studies-- a way to foster students' creative thinking by giving them structured opportunities to engage in inference and prediction. They also discuss the value of "stacking the deck" to shepherd learners towards "ah-ha" moments, examine ways to structure class discussion and learning about controversial issues in a safe way, and speculate about what should really be in your statement of teaching philosophy.

Jim and Julie-Ann continue their conversations exploring ways to organize student experiences, including through the use of storytelling. They discuss the importance of moving students from behavior to cognition, and Julie-Ann introduces a new way for students to learn with those tired, old flashcards!

Learn about a new summer reading program for faculty, staff, and graduate students at Illinois State University. In this brief bonus episode, Claire and Jim discuss how this new initiative, in partnership with Milner Library, challenges participants to move a little out of their comfort zones to explore new aspects of teaching and student learning.

As we continue to explore How Learning Works, Dr. Julie-Ann McFann joins Jim to talk about learning, leaping, and... Wile E. Coyote. Learn how concept or mind maps can help students organize their experiences for deep, critical thinking.

Students’ prior knowledge-- what they bring to the classroom from their other learning experiences-- can be the proverbial double-edged sword. This week, Claire and Jim dive into the book How Learning Works and the first of the seven research-based principles it describes. Learn why “knowing” is not enough, and how we as teachers need to activate the knowledge students bring with them before we can build upon it. We also discuss the perils of situations when students’ prior knowledge is inaccurate, and why it’s important for teachers to identify what knowledge is important for our particular learning environment (think “grammar”). Plus, we discuss strategies for helping a handful of students “catch up” without boring the rest of the class!

We’re back in 2018 to talk teaching, learning, and Fulbright awards with Dr. Erin Mikulec. She’s offering a new workshop series at CTLT that explores the many Fulbright teaching and research options available to faculty. In addition to previewing the workshops, Jim and Erin explore her experiences with the Study Abroad program her recent, award-winning scholarship in the field of teaching and learning, and how all of this ties back to the classroom. Plus, the virtues of mushy peas as a teaching tool!

What do our students need to acquire knowledge and make new meaning in our disciplines? What kind of literacies do they bring to the learning space that we must understand in order to guide them on their educational journey? In this episode, we discuss the theme of the 2018 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium, Expanding Notions of Literacy. Claire, Dana, and Jim sit down and explore just what “new literacies” means and how this year’s annual conversation about student learning will encourage faculty to not only look beyond reading and writing, but also to consider how the perspectives of other disciplines can inform our own teaching. The Symposium aims to bring together colleagues from across campus and across disciplinary siloes. Plus, we discuss Claire’s grammatically formal text messages, Jim’s (more learned and famous) namesake, and the important intersection of teaching, learning, and wine. The deadline to register for the 2018 Teaching & Learning Symposium is Friday, December 15, 2017.

Claire has wrapped up teaching her eight week Learning in Communities course. We reflect on what she learned teaching freshmen for the first time in a decade, what worked, and what she'd change. We also explore her one bad day teaching the class, when a conversation went "off the rails."

Illinois State's 2017 Homecoming theme is "Building a Legacy." In this special bonus episode, Claire and Jim discuss what teaching legacies they are a part of, whose shoulders they stand on, and what advice they'd give to their younger teaching selves.

Take the pain out of evaluating the subjective elements of your students’ learning. In this episode, we explore the advantages of developing and using rubrics. What makes a rubric more than a checklist? And how can rubrics help us gut-check out teaching, to make sure we’re really focusing on what’s important to students? Dr. Julie-Ann McFann, CTLT’s Program Team leader, joins us to talk rubric construction, why language is as important as concepts when putting your “grid” together, and whether or not your should share your rubric with your students before they begin the assignment.

This week, we catch up with CTLT Director Dr. Claire Lamonica, who is back in the classroom for the first time in years. She's teaching a special half-semester course called Learning in Communities, so her "midterm" has already come and gone. We discuss how well her expectations matched with the reality of teaching freshman after 12 years, what she found unexpected about their behavior, and how she decided to assess the course at its mid-point. We talk about prior knowledge, about common misperceptions concerning digital natives, and we ponder how high school may inform how this cohort of students use (or abuse) smartphones. Plus-- a shocking confession about lesson plans!

There’s no way to truly learn about teaching, about the effectiveness of various practices, or about how behaviors and attitudes of students shift as they learn, without a foundation of scholarship. Dr. Jennifer Friberg joins Jim to discuss her role as the Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, a position unique to Illinois State. Jen and Jim make the connection between scholarship, successful student learning, and the research-based professional development in teaching that links them. Find out how you can introduce SoTL scholarship into your own course as a way to enhance not only your discipline, but the profession of teaching as a whole.