Update: The resources (videos and web article) presented at the Curators’ Teaching Summit are now available at: edtech.mst.edu/teach/services/workshops (click the November tab).
Update: The final Curators’ Teaching Summit of 2014 was a great event! More than 40 S&T professors from all over campus got together over lunch for a series of small-table guided discussions. This session was led by a panel of Curators’ Teaching Professors, including Dr. Larry Gragg, Dr. Roger LaBoube, Dr. Venkat Samaranayake, and Dr. David Riggins. The Session was moderated by Dr. Jeff Cawlfied.
Student expectations were a primary topic; a series of short video interviews with random S&T students filmed around campus provided some insightful student perspective. As one might expect, student attitudes toward academic honesty vary widely. Some students struggle to conform to what they view as a treacherous and unfamiliar set of rules, while other students do not seem aware that academic honesty is a problem area for many of their peers.
Many instructors shared their strategies for reducing or minimizing the effects of student academic dishonesty. Frankly discussing the topic at the beginning of each new semester, clearly outlining policies and expectations, and identifying repercussions for violations is a popular strategy to address the subject head-on. Some instructors have developed grading practices to minimize the value of cheating to students, for example reducing the gradebook value of easy-to-cheat-on assignments such as take-home work.
Several instructors noted that being aware of different cultural expectations regarding the tradition of academic scholarship practices is another useful mental tool for the classroom. In the Western tradition of scholarship (Academe), there exists a codified set of cultural expectations regarding practices of citation, originality, and independent work. These expectations are not common to all cultures, and are a set of learned practices. An instructor’s ability to identify mismatched student cultural expectations on, for example, group work, is often the first step towards correcting and normalizing student efforts to be in line with the accepted practices of scholarship inside academic culture.
Finally, the subject of classroom technology was broached; while instructors interact with students on a constant basis, it can be unusual for students to be open and candid with instructors about their expectations and opinions. The short video interviews with S&T students were a breath of fresh air in that regard. So what do students have to say about classroom technology? Basically, they want their instructors to use the Learning Management System (Blackboard, in our case) to host course content. Many instructors completely ignore this resource. This is unfortunate, because students seem to crave electronic access to their grades and course materials, and they express a strong preference for more recordings of lessons, worked problems, and classroom sessions.
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CERTI and EdTech will be presenting a Curators’ Teaching Summit event, “Great Expectations: Bridging the Gap Between Instructor and Student Expectations”, on Wednesday, Nov 12 in the Missouri/Ozark Room of the Havener Center. This event will be held from Noon until 1:30PM. Lunch is provided
This event will be the third and final session of the fall series. We’ll be discussing two topics brought up by faculty in earlier sessions – student/instructor expectations regarding academic integrity, and use of technology in the classroom to enhance learning.