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CELT: Smart Teaching and Learning

More than 400 people took part Sept. 20–21 in CSU, Chico’s successful Seventh Annual Conference on Excellence in Learning and Teaching, sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT).

The following is a sampling of the 37 sessions focused on creating high-quality learning and teaching environments.
Internet Magic: Pulling Documents out of the Invisible Web

Declaring “the Web is not for wimps,” Sarah Blakeslee, head of the Information Literacy/Library Instruction Program, encouraged participants to start digging out the 550 billion “hidden” pages of the so-called Invisible or Deep Web.

Compared with the mere 1.2 billion HTML pages of the familiar Visible or Surface Web accessed by general-purpose search engines, the Deep Web is an ever-growing treasure trove for researchers, explained James Tyler, Library Collection Management.

Typical Deep Web documents are not HTML-based, and this is why they cannot be found by general-purpose search engines. The most important Deep Web sites are Web databases, sites that have their own search box to enable you to go deeper into the Web.

Blakeslee discounted current Deep Web search engines, such as Invisible Web and Lexibot, as “exciting technology, but not there yet.” She advised adding power to a general-purpose search engine (Google is her favorite) by entering the subject plus an advanced search word, such as “searchable databases,” “links,” “directories,” or “search engines.” For example, instead of entering simply “psychology” or “chemistry,” entering “psychology searchable databases” or “chemistry links” yields sites that offer further searches in databases of scholarly journals, abstracts, university library sites, and other sources.

PDF documents, which often are lengthy reports or internal documents, can be found by adding “inurl:pdf” to the Google search word.

Tyler gave a brief tour of the CSU, Chico Digital Media Bank site, which provides links to resources for enriching the online curriculum, including images, sound, video, film, and mixed media (www.csuchico.edu/lcmt/dmb2).

7 Habits of Highly Effective Smart Classroom Users

Kathy Fernandes, associate director for Academic Technologies, structured a presentation for effective classroom use of technology around the well-known “Seven Habits” framework defined by author Stephen Covey.

With 43 “smart classrooms” now on campus, she encouraged faculty to (1) “be proactive” in getting trained to integrate technology effectively into their courses. Classes, individualized training, and step-by-step tutorials are available via the Smart Classrooms Web site (www.csuchico.edu/classrms).

Advising participants to (2) “begin with the end in mind,” Fernandes said that smart classrooms allow faculty to choose the best media to achieve their course objectives. She demonstrated the AMX “black box” controller, the central brain for all multimedia equipment in a “master” smart classroom—computer with Internet connection, DVD, VCR, speakers, and the new Elmo visual presenter, which allows sophisticated color projection of documents, transparencies, and 3D objects from a ceiling-mounted projector. The AMX allows the presenter to switch seamlessly from one piece of equipment to another, bringing in DVDs, videos, Web sites, or articles as needed. It even controls the classroom lights.

Most of the 43 smart classrooms are “masters” with the full range of equipment housed in a fixed, lockable podium/cabinet, but some are “enhanced” classrooms, with no AMX controller or visual presenter and equipment on a moveable cart with umbilical cord.

Introducing Habit 3— “put first things first,” Fernandes suggested signing up for the smart classroom early. The Web site lists all smart classrooms on campus, with their hardware and software. She also advised getting into the room early to set up and test the equipment, to find any problems. Ryan Jones, from the Instructional Media Center, reassured participants that help is always available via the Smart Classroom Hotline (x5475).

Eager to (4) “think win/win,” (5) “seek first to understand,” and (6) “synergize,” participants got down to details of AV keys, passwords, equipment check-outs, software, and FAQs.

With a final admonition to (7) “sharpen the saw,” Fernandes encouraged participants to keep abreast of smart classroom development by checking the Smart Classroom Web site and updating their training.

Hail and Beware: Alcohol and Sexual Behaviors of College Freshmen

Research shows a “significant gap” between student perception and reality on many facts of alcohol and drug use, according to Shauna Quinn, director of the Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center (CADEC). A survey of 397 CSU, Chico freshmen in 2000 showed a perception that 95 percent of freshmen use alcohol, while the reality is that only 72 percent use alcohol regularly. While 86 percent believe that other freshmen use illegal drugs once a week, the reality is that only 22 percent use drugs that often.

This perception/reality gap has led to a new CADEC Did You Know? awareness campaign, aimed at narrowing that gap. A colorful poster presents dozens of “Chico natural highs” (like “a walk in Bidwell Park” or “getting an A”) along with key survey facts, such as “Most CSU, Chico students drink 0 to 2 days per week.” This aims to change the perception that students drink on most days of the week. Incentives are given to individual students for displaying the poster and knowing the facts.

The campaign is based on the social norming theory: If students think heavy drinking is normal, they will drink more; if they think responsible drinking is normal, they will drink more responsibly.

The perception/reality gap was seen in sexual behavior data as well. Diana Flannery and Lyndall Ellingson of Health and Community Services presented data from a sexual behavior study of 261 CSU, Chico freshmen. While students thought that most students have a large number of sex partners, research showed a mean lifetime number of partners of 3.9 for freshmen women and 3.3 for men.

Survey results also highlighted and quantified high-risk behaviors, including failing to use condoms, engaging in anal intercourse and oral sex, sexual coercion, and using alcohol and/or drugs when engaging in sex.

Data from the survey will be used to develop appropriate and timely curricula to meet the needs of CSU, Chico freshmen.

Health Education Across the Disciplines:
Intervention Strategies for Alcohol, Tobacco, Drugs, and Addiction

With public schools allocating only 4 to 10 minutes per week to health education, Vic Sbarbaro of Health and Community Services and two of his students, David Duffey and Kurt Osterlund, proposed an innovative multidiscipline program for education on alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and addiction. Focused on junior and senior high school students, the program is also suitable for junior college and university freshmen and sophomores.

Duffey presented a demonstration using one-liter plastic bottles to show the body’s inability to metabolize dangerous levels of alcohol.

Osterlund presented his question-and-answer game, “Every Minute,” designed to reinforce health information discussed in class and to dramatize the fact that one child is hurt, hospitalized, or killed in the United States every minute because of an unwise or dangerous decision.

Sbarbaro played a powerful game that allowed participants to experience how addiction jeopardizes the things they value most in life.

In Chico, Sbarbaro said, this program of activities could precede the award-winning “Every 15 Minutes” high school program that dramatizes the impact of alcohol-related traffic deaths. The concepts can be woven into science, history, language, and other courses.

How Would I Know Good Teaching If I Saw It?
A Teaching Rubric for Liberal Studies Professors

Promising to “walk the walk” as “teachers of teachers,” seven faculty members presented a rubric of effective teaching practices for students in the Liberal Studies Program, while modeling effective instructional strategies.

Calling the rubric “a work in progress,” they asked those present to engage in discussion and reflection to refine and extend the rubric. Four levels of expertise were identified: Novice, Advanced Beginner, Accomplished Professional, and Reflective Expert. Areas of teaching proficiency included Passion for Teaching, Student-Faculty Interaction, and Respect for Diverse Talents.

Presenting faculty members were Kay Cushing and Dan Stuempfig, Psychology; Judith Kerrins and Mark Keegan, Education; Mark Stemen, Geography and Planning; Eliza Berry, Math; and Kay Moore, Liberal Studies and Teacher Credential Program.

Francine Gair

Integrating Technology and Academics While Preparing Students for Standards-Based Tests

The pressure to prepare students for tests sometimes pushes secondary teachers back to “text-based, drill and kill” teaching. Is it possible for teachers to use a project-based, integrated approach and prepare their students for required standards-based tests such as the SAT-9?

Several students from Chico Senior High’s Academy of Communications and Technology (ACT) ably answered this question. They were introduced by Ron Pope, teacher and director of the four-year program that integrates academics with technology. The students used a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate their personal commentary on how this “school within a school” succeeds in addressing necessary academic standards.

Freshman students wrote literary analyses of poems, fulfilling standards-based writing requirements (drafting, editing, revising, critical thinking, and problem solving), then created individual presentations incorporating graphics, typology, video, and audio. Sophomore students shared the experience of producing a “Butte County Book,” a desktop publishing project that integrates history, English, and technology, fulfilling requirements involving research, history, and writing skills. They also showed samples of video adaptations of Macbeth, which students wrote, directed, acted in, filmed, and edited.

Junior students shared an Ellis Island simulation, a three-week assignment integrating history, English, and technology. The students were given identities as immigrants, participated in an Ellis Island reenactment, and wrote a series of letters “home,” fulfilling United States history, critical thinking, and communication skills requirements. Junior students also participated in a service-learning project that integrates U.S. History and 20th Century Literature classes with technology. Students interviewed war veterans and published, distributed, and marketed a book of oral histories.

The ACT program acknowledges that many of today’s incoming high school freshmen are technologically sophisticated and gives them an opportunity to learn through hands-on activities—in a program that meets state and district academic requirements.

Lisa Kirk