Talking About Teaching
Fall 2011
Please join us for a new term of Talking About Teaching, a weekly series (Friday 12:00-1:00 PM) where faculty gather together to discuss teaching, learning, students, and other related topics. Discussion leaders will share an experience, frame a question, or introduce an idea to get the discussion started. Lunch will be provided and no RSVP is necessary.
September 9 – David Blaney, Political Science, “Work Hard and Exceed the Quota”
The recipient of this year’s teaching award, Blaney will talk about his early struggles as a teacher and about an individual who inspired him to think more deeply about advising. And about the perils of our work.
September 16 – No program. Please attend President Rosenberg’s picnic for faculty and staff.
September 23 – David Chioni Moore, International Studies, and Karen Saxe, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, “Plagiarism and Other Academic Misconduct at Macalester” Moore and Saxe will discuss a range of student academic misconduct issues at Macalester, including prevalence, detection, remediation, procedures, and prevention, and include a variety of examples from different disciplines. Substantial time will be given over to Q & A and discussion.
September 30 – Ann Minnick, Academic Programs, and Aaron Colhapp, International Student Program, “Plagiarism at Macalester: Policies, Resources and Strategies for Handing Cases”
Do you know the processes to follow when you suspect a paper has been plagiarized? Are you looking for ways to help students avoid plagiarism? What campus resources exist to help students understand and implement appropriate research and citation practices? In this session we will describe Macalester's Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures, discuss the Academic Integrity Module, identify resources to faculty and students, and describe common circumstances that lead students to plagiarize.
October 7 – Vittorio Addona, Kay Crawford, and Chad Topaz, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, “Running a Preceptor Orientation: Guiding our Students Toward More Rewarding Work” Last fall, the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science held its first preceptor orientation lunch. Addona, Crawford, and Topaz will discuss the motivations behind the training: establishing a sense of camaraderie amongst department preceptors, impressing upon them the importance of their job in the success of any course, of ongoing communication with the professor, and instilling in them a feeling of pride regarding their job. Orientation handouts will be provided, along with an opportunity to discuss.
October 14 – Adrienne Christiansen, Political Science and Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching, “Video Coaching to Improve Student Writing” Do you ever tire of repeatedly writing "awk," "frag," or "passive voice" in the margins of student papers? Wish there was an easier way to show students how to fix a recurring writing problem rather than copy edit their prose for them? Christiansen demonstrates how she uses a free software program called "Jing" to coach individual students on their writing. Incredibly simple to use, Jing lets her send short (5 minute) videos to student authors that combines oral instruction and a "screen capture" of her working with the students' prose in MS Word. But Jing can be used to coach on any subject. Come learn whether it could benefit you and your students.
October 21 – Louisa Bradtmiller, Environmental Studies, and Jerald Dosch, Biology, “Macalester's Ordway Field Station: Recent Advances and New Opportunities” Join Bradtmiller and Dosch for a discussion of recent improvements and advances at Ordway and ways in which you can incorporate Macalester's "other campus" into your courses and scholarly work.
October 28 – Fall Break
November 4 – Fritz Andover & Josh Allen, Academic Information Associates, and Dan Flath, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, “In From the Outside” Have you ever had an outside speaker or scholar who has offered to interact with your class? Often they cannot due to economic or logistical reasons. Technology has vastly improved these pedagogical opportunities. In this session, Flath and other Macalester faculty will discuss using technology to bring in outside speakers and its effect on their students and their learning.
November 11 – Julie Dolan, Political Science, and Michael Porter, Internship Office, “Integrating Internships into Courses” Whether you're looking for advice on supervising stand-alone internships or are thinking about incorporating them into a new or existing class, come learn more about how to take advantage of the world of internship opportunities just outside our door.
November 18 – Terry Boychuk, Sociology, “Portraits of Macalester Students, Part 2: Religion, Sex, and Politics” Do Macalester students really suffer from decadent liberalism? Are they godless libertines? Students have explored these and other curious topics in the sociology department's survey methodology courses and senior research seminars over the past few years. Boychuk presents the findings of these research projects that reveal the social origins, beliefs, and practices of Macalester students.
November 25 – Thanksgiving Break
December 2 – Kendrick Brown, Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Associate Dean of the Faculty, and Nancy Bostrom, Campus Assessment Facilitator, “Let’s Talk Internationalism and Multiculturalism!” During first year orientation, most first year students completed the Macalester Assessment Instrument (MAI), designed to examine attitudes toward two key components of our mission: internationalism and multiculturalism. Brown will present the latest results —find out what our students think!
December 9 – Susanna Drake, Religious Studies, and Rachel Lucas-Thompson, Psychology, “Reciprocal Course Visits: What we learned about ourselves, our teaching, and our students by visiting another faculty member’s class" In Spring 2011, Drake and Lucas-Thompson participated in the Serie Center RCV’s program and each visited the other’s class three times as an observer. Each hoped to improve in an area of teaching in which the other had strengths. In this session, they reflect on the course visits including how they improved their own teaching, scholarship, and the intersection between the two.