Summaries of 2001-02 LES Workshops

Did you miss an LES workshop or do you need a reminder of what was discussed? The following are descriptions of the LES workshops held during the 2001 - 2002 academic year.

Are We Following Best Practice?
How come I got a "C?"
Learning Centered Syllabus
Incorporating Benedictine Values into Classroom Pedagogy
Exploring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues on Campus
What Should They Be Doing to Learn When They’re Not in Class?
Concept Mapping: A Valuable Strategy for Helping Students Learn
How Do I Know When a Student Isn’t Coping, and What Do I Do About It?GLBT Identity and Catholic Identity: Teaching about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Topics in the Context of a Catholic College
Seeing You Seeing Me
Academic Support for International Students: A Practical Approach
Student Incivility:  Defining the Problem and Seeking Solutions

Are We Following Best Practice?

In 1987, Zelda Gamson and Arthur Chikering distilled decades of research on teaching and learning into the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.  Most of us would find the list remarkably sensible:  it is hard to argue with statements like “good practice encourages student-faculty contact.”  The questions, however, is the extent to which we integrate these insights into our daily classroom behaviors.

Join Ken Jones (History/LES) as we explore the Seven Principles and discuss how best to implement them in our teaching.  You will leave reminded about what the research shows works best, and inspired by stories from others about how they translate the principles into action with their students. For more information on Best Practices.

How Come I Got a “C”?

Grading is never going to become one of the more enjoyable aspects of our profession, but there are ways we can enhance the potential for learning from our evaluation while reducing the likelihood of student unhappiness.

Ken Jones (History/LES) will present some ideas on how you can help your students understand grades.  We’ll talk about how students see grades, different grading philosophies, creating transparent grading systems, and how to minimize complaints. For more information on Grading.

Learning Centered Syllabus

What should we include in a syllabus, and how can we make its creation serve our goals for student learning?   This session uses Judith Grunert’s The Course Syllabus: A Learning Centered Approach, as a base for exploring larger issues about what we hope to accomplish in a class while also providing some specific practical suggestions. For more information about Syllabi.

LES invites you to join Rodney Cunningham (Political Science) and Vera Eccarius-Kelly (LES/Symposium) for a conversation on pedagogical strategies that address race in the classroom.  In this seminar, they will share classroom experiences and offer concentrate strategies that may help focus teaching methods on being inclusive and intellectual.  As institutions of higher learning, it is suggested that our communities have an obligation to be supportive of all students, and to be able to raise difficult and uncomfortable questions in the classroom.

Incorporating Benedictine Values into Classroom Pedagogy

LES, and the Office of Student Development, invite you to hear Dr. Carney Strange explain how to incorporate teaching methods that accentuate Benedictine values.  Dr. Strange is a professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs in the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University.  He will share is experiences of teaching students course content while emphasizing stewardship, listening, community, and respect for all.  Dr. Strange believes lay faculty members have a great opportunity to instill the charism of Benedictine values into their classrooms and, thus, to insure the transfer of institutional to their students.

Dr. Strange did his undergraduate work at St. Mienrads College, a Benedictine college.  He is, most recently, the author of Education by Design: Creating Campus Learning Environments that Work.  He is also the author of many other books and articles, including Involving Colleges: Successful Approaches to Fostering Student Learning and Development Outside the Classroom.

Exploring Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues on Campus

LES invites you to attend an upcoming workshop.  John Yoakam (Social Work) will facilitate a panel of faculty members who have introduced sexual orientation and gender identity into their classrooms.  Patricia Bolanos (MCL), Chris Freeman (English), and Rick Saucier (Management) will be joined on the panel by Debra Davis, a transgender woman and director of the Transgender Education Center in the Twin Cities.

What Should They Be Doing to Learn When They’re Not in Class?

We spend hours preparing how to use each 70 minute period to maximize student learning, but we rarely give much thought to what we want our students to be doing to get ready for that same brief moment together.  We tell them to read the assignment, review their notes, and perhaps suggest that they jot down questions.  We expect that they will do this with sufficient zeal to come to class truly prepared yet both our own experience and recent research reveal that few students do so.

Since the love of learning for its own sake isn’t universal, we need to find ways to improve this situation by giving more consideration to what we want to occur outside the classroom in preparation for the teaching-learning moment.  Ken Jones (History/LES) will start us off with some examples of approaches that require little or no cost in terms of faculty time, yet result in increased student learning.  There will be plenty of time for people to share their own strategies.

Concept Mapping: A Valuable Strategy for Helping Students Learn

Do you wish your students would grasp key concepts more quickly and fully?  Do you get frustrated when they persist in memorizing each new detail as if it bore not relationship to the larger issues you have addressed?

If so, join Larry Davis (Geology) for a session on how we can use the technique of concept mapping to move students away from rote memorization to the ability to relate new knowledge to that previously learned via concepts.

How Do I Know When a Student Isn’t Coping, and What Do I Do About It?

We all experience a variety of reactions as we encounter stress, but some students respond with maladaptive or inappropriate behaviors.  These “distressed” students may evidence social withdrawal, disruptive outbursts in the classroom, changes in performance and many other symptoms.  What are the patterns of stress in the lives of our students?  How do we know a student is “distress?”  What should we do about it as faculty and staff?  What resources are available on these campuses to help.

Come join us as Eric Felsch (Counseling) and Jenny Miller (Counseling) provide their expert insights on these topics.

GLBT Identity and Catholic Identity: Teaching about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Topics in the Context of a Catholic College

How do you discuss gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender topics with students when the teachings of the Catholic Church about homosexual have often been harsh?  Join us as Jean Keller (Philosophy), Sheila Nelson (Sociology), Vincent Smiles (Theology), Gina Wolfe (Theology), John Yoakam (Social Work) explain the church’s teachings and discuss how they have approached this issue from both personal and scholarly points of view.  As usual, there will be plenty of opportunity to share your own approaches.

Seeing You Seeing Me

Were you inspired by the events of the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration and wondering, “Where do I go from here?”  Maybe you’re new to diversity issues and wondering, “How do I make sense of it all?”  Would you like insight on how to make your classroom a more welcoming place for all students?  Perhaps you want to celebrate the advancements and transformations that have already taken place on our campus concerning diversity issues.

Whatever the reason, please join facilitators Felicia Washington (Social Work) and Signe Harriday, of the Theater Collective Mama Mosaic, for “Seeing You Seeing Me.”  This educational workshop uses drams as a tool for examining the complex roles and relationships unique to college campuses and the sometimes invisible arm of racism that effects our interactions together.  “Seeing You Seeing Me” provides a platform for discussion and examination of this controversial topic and concrete suggestions for making transformation visible in our lives, classrooms, and campus community as a whole.  Come prepared to be challenged and inspired through storytelling and song as we take you on a journey of discovery and renewal.

Academic Support for International Students: A Practical Approach

As a result of the 11 September terrorist attacks, the INS has instituted new regulations affecting international students at colleges and universities across the U. S.  Educational institutions will be required to track and monitor international students closely.  Join Vera Eccarius-Kelly (Political Science/LES), Lynda Fish (Academic Advising), and Kate Kamakahi (International Programs) for a stimulating and informative discussion on how these changes will affect the academic options and experiences of our international students and what impact these regulations will have on faculty members.

Student Incivility:  Defining the Problem and Seeking Solutions

In the past few years, people in higher education have paid increasing attention to what has been termed “student incivility,” which seems to mean everything from carrying on private conversations in class to the “you can’t do this to me because I am paying your salary” mentality to outright physical intimidation. Our campuses, unfortunately, have not been immune to these behaviors.

Come join your colleagues for an LES Fourm conversation on the nature of the problem, its causes, and possible solutions.  Mike Ewing (Counseling Services), Mary Geller (Student Development), Ken Jones (History/LES), and Michelle Sauer (Academic Advising) will start the discussion with perspectives from their areas, but there will be plenty of opportunity for you to join in.  The ultimate goal is to start a conversation about what we can do collectively to mitigate the problem on our campuses.  For more information about Incivility.