Encouraging and Rewarding Classroom Innovation Andrew Dorsey Eric - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Encouraging and Rewarding Classroom Innovation

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Andrew Dorsey President Front Range Community College, CO Eric Salahub Instructional Coach Front Range Community College, CO

Incen%vizing Innova%ve Teaching Strategies

Andrew Dorsey, President Eric Salahub, Philosophy Faculty/Instruc<onal Coach

Ge5ng Our Bearings…

• Service area covers 8382.54 mi2
• Popula<on 2,173,554

Larimer Campus 8,061 Boulder County Campus 3,736 Online Students 7,624 Westminster Campus 8,505

30,460 30,460 =

Students at Front Range Community College

Condi<ons for Innova<on

• The Right People
• Time
• Culture
• Leadership
• Funding (at least to some extent)
• Necessity (some<mes)

Two Turning Points for FRCC

• Assessment Crisis – 2006-2007
• Development of a First Strategic Plan - 2010

Assessment Crisis Circa 2006-07

• Accredita<on visit looming in 2008
• No visible progress on assessing student learning
• Strong faculty resistance to a proposed assessment

model

Assessment Crisis and Culture Change

• The solu<on: Join the Higher Learning Commission

Assessment Academy

• A small group of faculty began a movement to

change the culture and a\tude of their peers about assessment

• Sparked a slow but broader increase in

conversa<on about teaching and learning

Strategic Plan Circa 2010

• First serious plan in almost 20

years

• Started with numerous focus

groups

• Consistent themes included

frustra<on among faculty with lack of ability to innovate

Responding to the Concerns

• The new strategic plan, Vision

2015, included a specific goal to encourage innova<on

• Partly an a`empt to signal to

leaders at all levels the importance

• f making room for new ideas
• In other words, driving culture

change

• Also important to drive funding

Deciding on Ac%ons for the Strategic Plan

• Lots of evidence we had the right faculty, as

evidenced by ideas and desire to be crea<ve

• We had some of the right culture, but not enough
• We were lacking in the other areas:
• Clear indica<on of support from the top
• Buy-in from middle management
• Financial support

Specific Strategies

• President’s Innova<on Grants
• Instruc<onal Coaches
• Assessment Mentors
• New Learning Communi<es

Specific Strategies

• Expanded Professional Development

Funding

• Increased Instruc<onal Technology

Support Staff

• Recogni<on
• Addi<onal Faculty
• Addi<onal Deans

Strategy: President’s Innova%on Grants

• Up to $20,000 for two years
• Open to anyone in the college
• Had to be a new prac<ce or idea
• Completely outside the normal budget
• Selected by a commi`ee of staff and faculty
• Ini<al total funding of $150,000 per year

President’s Innova%on Grants

• In its figh year
• Over 50 proposals funded, mostly involving

teaching and student support

• Over 150 staff have par<cipated
• Tremendous posi<ve feedback
• Inspired several long term changes

Sample Projects Funded by Innova%on Grants

• Engaged Online Teaching
• Flipped Intro Biology Classroom
• Reconstruc<ng the Past
• Story Catchers

Strategy: Instruc%onal Coaches

• Four veteran faculty on 80% reassignment
• Three-year term
• Selected for teaching skill and passion
• A`end coaching ins<tute and mentored by
• utgoing coach

Instruc%onal Coaches

• One-to-One assistance
• Classroom visits
• Reflec<ve Prac<ce Groups
• Workshops
• Only Forma<ve, never Summa<ve!

Example

• Eric’s work as an instruc<onal coach and an

innova<on grant recipient

• Also a key member of the assessment team

and an assessment mentor

Instruc(onal Coaching

Problems, Experiments, and Innova<ve Solu<ons Best Prac<ces: Workshops and Training Online Learning Community Ac<ve Learning

Eric Salahub: Online Instruc<onal Coach

Can you help me, Eric? I think I’ve designed myself out of my

• wn online course….

What do you love about teaching? When do you feel most like a teacher?

1) Watching my students improve, learn, and demonstrate skills. 2) Connec<ng with students. 3) Capturing the teachable moment.

Independent Student Work Independent Instructor Work 3 hrs. 3 hrs. Online 6-9 hrs.

Tradi<onal Flipped Hybrid Online What is online “instructor-directed teaching?”

If we want to facilitate learning by offering meaningful forma<ve feedback,

we must design assignments and ac(vi(es that provide us the opportunity to do so.

Crea<ng Online Teachable Moments

The quiz tool can be used for things other than quizzes.

Use guided

thinking ac-vi-es to

assess student learning in process.

Encourages student <me-

• n-task and

makes ‘homework’ meaningful. Allows for quick feedback to be

• ffered

individually or to the whole class.

Consider screencas<ng as a way to offer whole-class feedback so each student can assess their understanding in the context of the rest of the class.

Screencas(ng and Teachable Moments

I use screencast-o-ma-c.com and youtube.com for instruc<onal screencasts.

Consider incen(ves!

• Use auto-graded quizzes with customized feedback.
• Ques<on banks
• Quiz to mastery
• Self-assessment in the context of the whole class

Quizzing to Mastery Sets Up Teachable Moments

Digital Images For Immediate Assessments

Online classes are ogen paperless environments, at least where submission of student work is concerned. But, any smartphone can create a digital image of a paper document and students can easily upload those images into their online course. This works great for hybrid and face-to-face classes too.

Our Best Class Ever!!

• Two classes fully

integrated

• Two teachers working as

partners

• One D2L site
• One syllabus
• One set of assignments

Leads to:

• Increased student

success!

• Classmates and teachers

who care about and trust each other

• Great experiences for

teachers Kerri Mitchell: ENG Faculty

My Online Students Never Hear Me Lecture Yet… They Learn and Accomplish More

• For hybrid classes…
• For flipped classes…
• For tradi<onal, web-

supplemented classes… How can lessons from

• nline learning help all

teachers and students move from the “knowledge- transmission” way of doing things toward the “ac(ve learning” paradigm?

Knowledge Transmission Ac(ve Learning Teachers Learning Facilitators Students Learners Content (facts) Outcomes / Competencies and Skills Focus on Courses, Prefixes and FTE Focus on Programs and Student Success

Paradigm ShiP

Independent Student Work Independent Instructor Work 3 hrs. 3 hrs. Online 6-9 hrs.

Tradi<onal Learning Facilita(on / Ac(ve Learning?

What should “instructor-directed teaching?” be

Front Range Community College

Ac<ve Learning Ins<tute

Spring 2017

Example Innova%on Grant: Flipped Biology

• Over 900 students in 38 sec<ons of General Biology I
• ver two semesters
• About half blindly registered into flipped sec<ons
• 17 faculty and instructors:
• 6 taught only flipped sec<ons
• 10 taught normally
• 1 taught one of each

Flipped Biology

• Before class, students worked through a

SogChalk module and a publisher-provided homework assignment

• During class, they took a quiz and then did

ac<vi<es designed to rehearse, recall, link to prior knowledge, explain, and elaborate

Students from flipped sec<ons performed significantly be`er on a common comprehensive final exam

Students from flipped sec<ons had significantly higher pass rates in BIO112 and higher pass rates in BIO201 and BIO204

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

*

BIO201 BIO204 BIO112

Students Passing in Subsequent Biology Courses (%) Biology Course

From Flipped Sections From Non-flipped Sections

Flipped Biology

• Project con<nues two years ager funding has

ended

• Spreading to more sec<ons and other science

courses

Reconstruc%ng the Past

• Joint Project of Women’s History, Women’s Sexuality,

and either Jewelry Making or Advanced Drawing

• Interviews of local women
• First year from a memory care facility
• Then La<na women, veterans, and Jewish women
• Working on a figh cycle
• Art student produced a personalized art piece depic<ng

the subject’s life journey

• History students produced a wri`en narra<ve
• Displayed at local art gallery and permanently on

campus

Reconstruc%ng the Past

Reconstruc%ng the Past

Innova%on Grant: Story Catchers

• Inspired by StoryCorps
• Oral History in Fort Collins area
• History, English, Educa<on, and Early Childhood

Educa<on Classes

• Example: Teams of Students in English class

interviewed local non-fic<on authors and developed team presenta<ons to their classes

• Since spring 2015: 21 interviewees and 150

students

• Tremendous student engagement and response

• Teaching with Technology
• Support integra<on of new technology in instruc<on
• Student Learning Grants
• Support crea<ve ways to understand what students are

learning and how to improve that learning

Strategy: Other Grants

Strategy: Teaching with a Purpose

• Two year program for all new faculty
• Monthly sessions focused on teaching
• Three day summer assessment and student

learning session

• Teaching Effec<veness and Assessment project

Teaching with a Purpose for Adjuncts

• Six session program for adjuncts focused on ac<ve

learning

• The first real teacher training many have had
• 2X per year
• Over 200 adjuncts trained

Strategy: Expanded Professional Development

• Teaching with Technology Conference
• Over 150 full-<me and part-<me faculty a`end each

May

• Increasing focus on innova<on in teaching
• Doubled expenditures on training for adjuncts

Strategy: SLOs and Assessment Mentors

• How we approached student learning outcomes

was a key part of our culture change

• Very important to let faculty lead
• Also important to provide support to early

adopters

• 15 faculty became assessment mentors with one or two

course reassignment <me

• Focused on innova<ve ways to teach and assess our five

student learning outcomes

• Assessapalooza

Strategy: Recogni%on

• Important to recognize steps in the right direc<ons
• Specific awards at our college recogni<on

ceremony

• Lack of deans was some<mes a key impediment to

innova<on

• Administrators who are too stretched some<mes

struggle to find <me and space to adopt new ideas

Strategy: Adding Key Staff

Contact us

Eric Salahub

Philosophy Faculty Online Instruc<onal Coach Eric.Salahub@frontrange.edu (970) 204-8234

Andy Dorsey

President Andy.Dorsey@frontrange.edu (303) 404-5481

Special thanks to the Front Range Community College team!

Andrew Dorsey, Andy.Dorsey@frontrange.edu Eric Salahub, Eric.Salahub@frontrange.edu

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