Kyle Palmer is the principal of Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Liberty, MO. Kyle was a presenter at the Model Schools Conference in Atlanta, GA. Here are the handouts from his session: Presentation and PDF It’s about relationships, not programs. Transformed school in last year. Competition with others helps him be better. Let’s not change the world, let’s just do our best. Fostering belief in staff. Growth mindset. Katie Lawson, principal extraordinaire. Need to know the "why" behind everything. The Art and Science of Teaching Angela Rosheim - Genius hour in the library, received grant of $8,000 of $10,000 of available resources, makerspace. Focusing on being ready for the future. Project Lead the Way - STEM Solution for schools. Moving away from the sage on the stage mentality. How to be a transformative principal: Looking into yourself first, before looking at others. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Brian Edmister is the principal of Genesee Valley Elementary School in Genesee Valley New York. Brian was a fellow participant of the Model Schools Conference. Attended many different colleges to complete his degree. Design your own session. Standards based grading. Must create your culture before you change anything. When you create a grade, you create a label. Giving the kids a chance to be in charge of their own learning. Schools Attuned Giving teachers permission to fail at something. 1 page of all academic, 1 page of social development on report card. Levels of access can be unlocked with badges for showing digital citizenship. Robot Farm Allowing kids to demonstrate proficiency. Communication build trust. How to be a transformative principal: Build culture. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

David Long, CEO of My Employees. Started the company from Author of Built to Lead: 7 Management R.E.W.A.R.D.S Principles for Becoming a Top 10% Manager.. This book is amazing, and I learned a ton from talking to David. He is a businessman, and not an educator, but he is really on point here. Top 1% in all three industries he has participated in, so topics relatable to all industries. Employee recognition programs. It’s not just plaques for employee recognition. It is normal to procrastinate, forget, or otherwise delay awards and recognition for employees. Great intentions last only 3 months. Recognize 2 people from each department. 20% or higher growth per year because of this employee recognition. Employee recognition is the greatest way to get people to buy into your vision for the school. Teachers will only be successful if the kids are successful, so we need to make our teachers and kids successful. Metrics for schools: Don’t want it to be a popularity contest! Measure what you are already using. Recognition has to be administered every 7-10 days. Employee recognition reminder chart. - Digital Version Recognize everyone 3 times a month! If you can’t find something to recognize them for, you’re dropping the ball as a leader. We do not outgrow the desire to be shown that we are significant. If teachers don’t feel like they are part of the team, they want to leave you. Two reasons people want to leave your school: 1) Not getting recognition or 2) the leader is forcing them to work with incompetent people. You have to show the teachers that they matter. People will listen to you because you care. You will lose good people sometimes if you focus on them Many employees receive no recognition for months at a time. Find as many metrics as you can. Demotivator: not using metrics to determine employee recognition, i.e., If someone comes in late and leaves early every day, and you reward that person. Don’t make recognition about "It’s this person’s turn." 80/20 rule. Recognize top 20% of each department. Part 2 Student engagement surveys for teachers. Simplistic questions: How well do you feel the teacher teaches…? How well do you feel your teacher encourages you…? (What would be good) Interview and assess what the kids are getting from their teachers. Metrics he uses: Dollar/ticket, renewal sales, how many calls they answer, answering the phones by the third ring, Kaizan - continuous improvement, monitoring something causes the production of it to increase by 10 percent. TEDxCSDTeachers - increase attendance by 10%. shoutoutcards.com - stubs or something to remind you of what someone did well. Let your people shine. Book clubs - teach your teachers how to improve their lives - personal development, not books related to our profession. Dr. Tony Zeiss - 12 Essential Rules for Becoming Indispensable Book clubs help teams that don’t usually work together work together. Side note: teach kids how to use money and have their money spent effectively. What can principals do? Use the recognition chart to make sure you are checking in on your teachers. Invest in your own education, learn how to be a better principal, teacher, speaker, etc. davidlong@top10manager.com 800-489-0230 Buy the hardback copy, get the kindle version free by emailing Copy of workbook from the "You’re impacting lives every day, or you’re not!" Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

David Long, CEO of My Employees. Started the company from Author of Built to Lead: 7 Management R.E.W.A.R.D.S Principles for Becoming a Top 10% Manager.. This book is amazing, and I learned a ton from talking to David. He is a businessman, and not an educator, but he is really on point here. Top 1% in all three industries he has participated in, so topics relatable to all industries. Employee recognition programs. It’s not just plaques for employee recognition. It is normal to procrastinate, forget, or otherwise delay awards and recognition for employees. Great intentions last only 3 months. Recognize 2 people from each department. 20% or higher growth per year because of this employee recognition. Employee recognition is the greatest way to get people to buy into your vision for the school. Teachers will only be successful if the kids are successful, so we need to make our teachers and kids successful. Metrics for schools: Don’t want it to be a popularity contest! Measure what you are already using. Recognition has to be administered every 7-10 days. Employee recognition reminder chart. - Digital Version Recognize everyone 3 times a month! If you can’t find something to recognize them for, you’re dropping the ball as a leader. We do not outgrow the desire to be shown that we are significant. If teachers don’t feel like they are part of the team, they want to leave you. Two reasons people want to leave your school: 1) Not getting recognition or 2) the leader is forcing them to work with incompetent people. You have to show the teachers that they matter. People will listen to you because you care. You will lose good people sometimes if you focus on them Many employees receive no recognition for months at a time. Find as many metrics as you can. Demotivator: not using metrics to determine employee recognition, i.e., If someone comes in late and leaves early every day, and you reward that person. Don’t make recognition about "It’s this person’s turn." 80/20 rule. Recognize top 20% of each department. Part 2 Student engagement surveys for teachers. Simplistic questions: How well do you feel the teacher teaches…? How well do you feel your teacher encourages you…? (What would be good) Interview and assess what the kids are getting from their teachers. Metrics he uses: Dollar/ticket, renewal sales, how many calls they answer, answering the phones by the third ring, Kaizan - continuous improvement, monitoring something causes the production of it to increase by 10 percent. TEDxCSDTeachers - increase attendance by 10%. shoutoutcards.com - stubs or something to remind you of what someone did well. Let your people shine. Book clubs - teach your teachers how to improve their lives - personal development, not books related to our profession. Dr. Tony Zeiss - 12 Essential Rules for Becoming Indispensable Book clubs help teams that don’t usually work together work together. Side note: teach kids how to use money and have their money spent effectively. What can principals do? Use the recognition chart to make sure you are checking in on your teachers. Invest in your own education, learn how to be a better principal, teacher, speaker, etc. davidlong@top10manager.com 800-489-0230 Buy the hardback copy, get the kindle version free by emailing Copy of workbook from the "You’re impacting lives every day, or you’re not!" Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Bob Dillon Twitter Web Site is the Director of Technology and Innovation for Afton School District. He has been a middle school principal for 15 years in three different places and currently helps many other principals improve their practices. Join the PrincipalPLN Voxer group 1st order change - simple, fixit types of problems, typically exciting that help people feel good about things, but don’t really move the needle in improving a school. 2nd order change - moving from management to leadership. Changes that will last after you are gone. People start to feel like they are part of a special organization. Sometimes it is messy, people don’t know how things will play out. Doug Timm Principal in Delaware. Need to focus on what matters in the long term. 1st order change - painting over water stain on a house you just bought. 2nd order change - taking off the drywall and cleaning (or replacing) studs and insulation. Playing the short and the long game. Higher-level conversations Difficulty of dealing with minor problems. If you are working hard daily, people will be more likely to give you a break. Build up key communicators in the building. Trust your teachers to say things in a way that you know will be beneficial. People need to hear the same in multiple ways. How to help teachers be comfortable taking risks. Need to scaffold to the higher level of risk-taking. Part 2 Director of Innovation. My role is to keep the system lubricated. Keep technology systems moving at a fast rate. Jump technology ahead. Looking for other places that slow growth and inhibit innovation. Empower the teachers that are moving forward and working hard. Most of the rest of my career I will have jobs that don’t exist yet. Important to change mental model of where and how kids learn. Our teachers get better when they tell our story. If it is not your strength to share, allow it to be the power of your students and allow them to share. Give kids a voice. Authentic audience raises the quality of work. Book Ethic of Excellence How are you contributing to Education beyond this school? It is about being humble, and knowing you don’t have all the answers. If I want other people to help me, I need to help other people. What prevents teachers from contributing? Powerful connecting to other schools. Bettendorf High School and their partner school learning from each other. Doc Seacrist St. Joseph in Missouri(LINK) Why Jimmy Casas continues to be a principal. Leadership K-1-2 Makerspace about the philosophy of allowing kids to grow creativity and problem solving. Create, make, design for empowerment, engagement. Helping kids become solution makers. How you can be a transformative principal: Go read something that doesn’t have to do with education with your principal hat on. Lateral capacity building. Brendan Hufford Entreleadership Podcast Chris Locurto Show Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Today I am joined by Theresa Stager and Jessica Johnson who talk about their book "Breaking out of Isolation". After the sad end of the Practical Principals podcast with Melinda Miller, Theresa and Jessica and Jethro all started a podcast at the same time. Being connected sometimes makes you feel isolated. On being a student again. Fixed vs. growth mindset. We are still in the middle of learning how to be connected. You must always watch what you are saying and be cautious of what you are saying. Connected Educator Series How you can break out of isolation: Jump on Twitter Join #principalPLN and create your own personal little mentors. Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher.  Ready for a Modern Web Site for your school? Simple School Sites is the place to go for high quality Wordpress sites specially designed for schools. Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show. Buy Communication Cards Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com Download Paperless Principal.  New Episode of @TrnFrmPrincipal

Brandon Hall Group recently released the findings of their latest survey on leadership skills, and I was interested to see an almost exact divide in the results, with the organisations surveyed scoring 35.7%, 33.7% and 30.7% respectively for poor, average and exceptional talent management practices. Whilst there is a significant increase in organisations rating their […]

  Read the full report here: ‘Talent Pools: Banishing the Secret Society’ Filed under: Employee engagement, HR Strategy, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Workforce management Tagged: #secretsociety, employee engagement, HiPos, Kallidus, Succession planning, talent, Talent management, talent pools

The effectiveness of performance management is firmly back in the spotlight. Management consulting services company - Accenture - hit the headlines recently when they announced they were getting rid of 90% of their current performance management processes, and PwC have shaken things up further, claiming that, in fact, one in 20 (5%) of organisations are considering stopping […]

About the Role Due to our rapid growth we are now looking to expand our customer support team and are looking to hire an amazing Customer Support Representative to join our growing team. This isn’t your average support role, you will become a partner and friend to our ever growing customer base. You will be their main point of contact for guidance on how best they can integrate LearnUpon into their business to achieve maximum benefit. Within LearnUpon we aim to deliver a level of support unparalleled in the eLearning industry, the bar has already been set unbelievably high and your challenge, should you choose to accept it, will be to move it even higher! You will capture suggested improvements and feedback from our customers as well as coming up with your own suggestions on how we can rule the LMS world. Who We Are Looking For The person we are looking for will have the following qualities: Be highly motivated and want to achieve something special with our company Excellent customer service skills - the ability to be empathetic, accurate, compassionate, responsive, resourceful, and conscientious You are bright, hard-working and have the initiative and ability to solve problems by yourself while knowing when it’s time to call on your colleagues for some assistance. You are happy to work outside of normal office hours, from 4pm to midnight, Monday to Friday, to support our US based customers. Strong organizational skills and an ability to multitask. You are a person who constantly strives for perfection and who will challenge your colleagues in our quest to create the worlds leading LMS platform. You will have a computer science, software engineering or business background Experience with SaaS and/or at a SaaS company is a big plus Understanding and experience with modern web development techniques and technologies, and modern web culture Knowledge of Ruby/Rails, JQuery, SQL, *nix OS platforms, basic network protocols and/or API/Auth type mechanisms are considered a major plus. An elearning / LMS background with experience of industry standards and terminology such as SCORM, AICC, Tin Can, etc. while not necessary would be a bonus. You have excellent written and spoken English for communicating with our customers (in a friendly and personable way!). You have the potential and vision to lead and grow a strong support team.   Benefits Competitive salary and benefits 22 days annual leave Flexible working hours Exciting start-up environment with rapidly expanding superstar team Excellent career progression opportunities for the right candidate Team building events If you are interested in applying for this role please send your CV in confidence to jobs@learnupon.com. We look forward to hearing from you!   About LearnUpon LearnUpon is a new, exciting cloud based software company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Our mission is to change the way online learning is delivered by developing a Learning Management System (LMS) that companies love to use. We are addressing the common frustrations with traditional learning management systems by developing a platform that can be set-up in minutes, is easy and intuitive to use, looks amazing and doesn’t cost a fortune. Since launching LearnUpon 18 months ago we are now one of the fastest growing LMS platforms in the world with new customers signing up for our platform every day. Our customers are based in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden and of course here in Ireland. LearnUpon is growing incredibly fast with established and increasing revenue. The company is a very open, collaborative environment where team and individual accomplishments are celebrated and encouraged. Our product is on the path to being very successful and the people who join now will be critical contributors to its ongoing adoption throughout the world. Life at LearnUpon is fun and challenging. You will get to work with a great team in a Dublin city centre location. We are constantly making LearnUpon better for our customers and never adopt an "it will do" attitude when it comes to our platform. We love releasing new features which make our customers go "wow". All the team are given time-out each month to go off and think and come up with amazing new ideas which will make LearnUpon even better. Everyone contributes and everyone’s ideas are respected. We treat our staff like our customers, they are the most important elements in our business without whom we would just be another run of the mill, boring, clunky LMS. The post We’re hiring! Customer Support Representative appeared first on LearnUpon.

Thank you to all those who attended our second TeachT@lk Webinar! For our second TeachT@lk webinar, held on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 3-4pm, we turned our attention to Peer Learning. In addition to supporting student learning outcomes, peer learning can develop crucial skills such as problem solving, communication, teamwork, and critical thinking. During the webinar, we discussed best practices, research, and reviewed strategies and tools on how to engage students. Additionally, we highlighted the need to get student buy-in and establish protocols/guidelines to for successful outcomes (e.g., RISE model by Emily Wray) Below are some of the resources mentioned during the webinar, along with the slides and recording.  If you have questions, or are interested in integrating peer learning in your class, please contact Amy Pate (amy.pate@asu.edu).Webinar Recording & Slides(58 min.):https://connect.asu.edu/p2v5fri1pb9/ presentation slides Helpful Resources: RISE Model, Emily WrayEric Mazur: Peer Instruction for Active Learning Scott Berkum: How to give and receive criticism Anne Friedman: The Disapproval Matrix Kurt Ralske: The Crit (Art School) Kagan Cooperative Learning Emily Wray: Rise Model, Five Minutes of Fame (Youtube)Drs. Tinapple & Olson: CritvizAs always, feel free to make comments to this post, and share your experiences! (Also SHARE the blog, and help us get the word out!)

This week our "Guest Blogger" is David L. Pearson, PhD, Researcher Professor and Senior Lecturer for the School of Life Sciences. Dr. Pearson's research is focused on using the interaction of ecology, conservation, ecotourism and education to develop methods that promote sustainable use of biodiversity. He shares an active learning technique from his class that helped students create value for the content.David L. Pearson, PhDBio 100 tries to make biology pertinent to non-majors. We do this by introducing current and often controversial topics in the Active Learning Class that distill video lecture and online labs into an applied situation. Getting them to discuss and appreciate biology in terms of "What is beauty?", "Are you medically illiterate?", "To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?" and "Are we all really experts on sex?" was not a problem. But when it came to diffusion and osmosis, the students just couldn’t make a connection of why these ungainly mechanisms should have any importance for them and their lives. To resolve this impasse, I proposed a contest during the last 10 minutes of class. We divided the class into small groups of six, and then presented them with a question to research. The first group of students who developed a cogent answer, wrote it succinctly in their own words on the white board, and could then explain it well to the rest of the class, would win two bonus points on the next lecture exam. Using Google Scholar, Bing, their text book or whatever resource was available to them online in class, the students quickly and enthusiastically pursued answers to the question "What effect does osmosis have on diabetics?" All the groups came to understand and remember that osmosis is the primary cause of two major symptoms of diabetes - extreme thirst and frequent urination, and why. They also better appreciated that even non-majors are well-served by this knowledge. Do you have an activity that you do in class to help students see the value of a specific topic you teach? Please feel free to share it in the "Comments" section below.For more information about Active Learning, please check out these resources:Engaging "Gen Z" first year college studentsCenter for Teaching and Learning at the Univ. of Minnesota

When I started working in distance education, most people were adamant that students that took online courses would not feel connected to each other. My experiences proved that it was a challenge, but by no means impossible. Student-to-student interactions have been shown to increase deeper learning for students, and create better connections between content and application. (Swan, 2004) The key to successful student teams is to get people to connect to each other through common goals and interests, and develop strong lines of communication. I used these 3 tips to guide students to successful teams:FORMING TEAMS: In my classes, I didn’t let students choose their own teams. I told them that networking and learning how to work with different people were part of the learning objectives of the course, and group work would develop those skills. I had them blindly choose teams based on their interests in specific topics in the class.  Once those teams were determined, I gave teams time to go through the common team building stages from Tuckman of ‘forming, storming, norming, performing’. I started the first week of class with opportunities for the groups to take time to introduce themselves, and talk about teams that they had been on. What worked? What their preferences were for working in a team? I asked them to be honest with each other about their goals for the class, and what they were willing to do. Introductions are actually a required standard in the Quality Matters rubrics for creating strong online courses, and too often not taken seriously, so it was part of a participation grade. (Standard 1.9)SETTING NORMS: The second week of class, I asked groups to form "Team Norms", which were basically a list of ‘rules’ and communication guidelines that all members of the team agreed to. The document was specific, and included how often teams had group meetings, showed schedules, designated "roles" each member would play, etc. I encouraged teams to find modes of communication that were effective for them, whether it involved Twitter, email, SKYPE, Facebook, or regular online meetings, and include it in the norms. Because virtual teams organize and make decisions very differently than onsite teams, it is vital that team members have clearly defined roles and expectations. (Forbes Magazine, 2010)  This document was counted as an assignment, which I reviewed and gave feedback on.  "LAST STRAW": Throughout the course, I preached about the value of diverse opinions, and the need for teams to take advantage of everyone's strengths. However, my "last straw" rule was that teams could fire a student for not following the "norms". A team needed to document communication, but after multiple attempts to get the team member involved, they could fire the member after the midterm with my approval. That individual would then have to do the assignment by themselves. This very rarely happened, and most teams were able to work through the issues with very little guidance from me because of their established norms in the beginning of the class. What challenges have you faced with online teams, and what suggestions do you have to help them be successful? Click on the "Comments" text below to share ideas.

On Friday, October 24, we held a Concept Map Workshop for faculty and grad students. In this workshop we discussed what concept maps were, and how to use them in our classrooms. Some of the key takeaways were that concept maps can be used in a variety of ways, should be continually revised and updated, and that technology is great, but white boards and post-it notes can work just as well depending on your objectives.  We modeled some different tactics for concept maps, including:Using them as a discussion starter by having students silently build one based on the homework reading before talking about it in class.Continually going back to the class concept map and asking students if they need to revise or add more content to the concept map to build their knowledgeUsing Peer reviews to help students see what connections they might have missed, and build a a more thorough study guideIntegrating a module within Blackboard that has tutorials and technology information to help students become comfortable with concept maps before doing graded assignments.We also considered how to use concept maps for a graphical syllabus and best practices for assessing them. Finally, we used the web app, Yogile, to collect photos of our whiteboard concept maps and review them as a group.Below, are some of the resources from the workshop:Concept Map examples and HandoutsPowerPoint fileResource Links:•Kathy Schrock’s Guide (Website): http://www.schrockguide.net/concept-mapping.html •Cmap Website: http://learn.cmappers.net/ •Novak, Joseph D., The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them http://cmap.ihmc.us/publications/researchpapers/theorycmaps/theoryunderlyingconceptmaps.htm •Concept Maps Help Build Connections to Learning: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/concept-maps-help-build-connections-to-learning/ •Web-based Concept Mapping Tools for Learning: http://icoblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/concept-mapping-tools/ •Classroom Assessment Technique: http://youtu.be/Gm1owf0uGFM •Technology Training for Cmap,VUE and Mindmeister http://youtu.be/P0DBS-YbRc0 •Overview video: http://youtu.be/A625Yh6v6uQ?list=PLM-ncRMc-HjKZTIY7efD6p58dPTv7csDXAdditionally, if you would like some more information on any of these ideas, or explore concept mapping further, please email amy.pate@asu.edu

There are lots of opportunities over the next couple of months to share ideas for implementing technology and active learning into your classroom. Attend a SoLS Workshop, or a CLAS TeachT@lk Webinar to discuss new ideas with fellow faculty and learning professionals. Register for any of the workshops and webinars below at: http://goo.gl/forms/1or7An71KmWORKSHOP: Active Learning Activities with iCoursesFriday, November 14, 3-4pm, LSC180 Online students can learn actively! This workshop will present ideas for activities that engage your students, and some best practices for developing iCourses.WORKSHOP: Using Google Docs,Forms and SitesFriday, December 12, 2-3:30pm, LSC180/182 Google Docs, Sites and Forms are all free, and great resources for your class collaborative activities.  Learn some new ways to use these fun tools!WEBINAR: Quick and Fast vs. Slick and Professional" -Which videos are best for your classes?Tuesday, December 9, 3-4pmThis webinar will look at the many types of videos that you may use in your class. We will look at which kinds of videos are most effective and discuss some basic considerations when creating videos yourself. When do go into one of the studios on campus and when is it okay to shoot it yourself?

Thank you to all those who attended ourTeachT@lk Webinar!  Our TeachT@lk webinar, held on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 3-4pm, covered several important aspects of creating "good" rubrics to make the grading process more effective and efficient. Throughout the session, we reviewed crucial components of rubrics (ie., critieria, level of competencies, descriptors) and discussed multiple examples (e.g., discussion participation, standard-based rubrics). Additionally, we looked at strategies to get started creating good rubrics and using them with Blackboard.Below are some of the resources mentioned during the webinar, along with the slides and recording.  If you have questions, or are interested in integrating rubrics in your class, please contact Amy Pate (amy.pate@asu.edu).Webinar Recording & Slides:Adobe Connect Recording (60 min.)Presentation SlidesHelpful Resources:Assessments with Rubric, ASU TeachOnlineShould you use Rubrics, Faculty FocusRubrics: The Essentials, Faculty FocusExamples:rCampus.com - rubrics for various subjects & levelsRubistar4Teachers - free tool to help teachers get startedDiscussion Rubrics - selection of various rubrics for discussion participationASU-Specific:ASU Rubric Template - use this template to get startedAs always, feel free to make comments to this post, and share your experiences! (Also SHARE the blog, and help us get the word out!)

On Friday, faculty met to learn about the future of icourses in SoLS (PowerPoint) and share some ideas for best practices. Mike Angilletta opened the workshop with a call for SoLS icourses that will draw students to a summer class, including unique classes that aren't taught during the regular academic year, and popular courses that have high enrollment. Details will be coming out soon in the new Undergrad Program Newsletter from Courtney Shobert. We went over the new suggested SoLS iCourse Standards for all icourses, and how they fit with building quality courses through the use of the Quality Matters rubric and best practices for online courses. The SoLS standards are set up to support the 7 categories of quality learning that include Course Design, Delivery, Content, Infrastructure, LMS, Faculty and Student Readiness. Faculty are encouraged to begin developing about 6 months before course starts, so courses are complete before the semester starts. We also heard from Peter van Leusen, Instructional Designer for CLAS, regarding the QCD Pilot Process. This process connects faculty and instructional designers to work together to assess current icourses, set priorities for improvement, and give support to faculty. The pilot has been highly successful, and SoLS will follow a similar model for reviewing and continually improving existing icourses. Faculty in the pilot spent approximately 30 hours on improving courses which included building assignments, recording videos and fine-tuning learning objectives.Finally, faculty quickly brainstormed ways to bring active learning to the online environments by translating traditional activities into online web meetings, student-created videos, peer reviews and blogs. Although each course is different, most traditional active learning activities can be done online with some support from instructional designers and technologists.If you want to develop an icourse for SoLS, please see the following "Action Items":Review the new standards for SoLS coursesFaculty are strongly encouraged to take the next ASU Online boot camp course starting Feb. 6 and become familiar with the Quality Matters program. Registration is at: http://www.eventbrite.com/o/asu-online-790244257 Set up a meeting with Amy Pate and Courtney Shobert to discuss your idea for a class and get started on the process.If you already are teaching an icourse, and want to take it to the next level:Go over the "Quick 10" Review Handout for our SoLS StandardsSet up an account for Quality Matters and do a self-assessment of your courseSet up a meeting with Amy Pate to establish a timeline and priorities for making your course ready for a Quality Matters Review.

This presentation was given to the ASU Association of Women in Science (AWIS).In a world where everyone can create a PowerPoint slide, we have to be able to stand out and be noticed when presenting information. If we are passionate about our research, then we want to get our audience excited, too. One way to do that is through visuals.The first tip was "Be Different". It isn't just about using different technologies, but using them differently. We demoed some technologies that look different and have different features than the typical PowerPoint, and we talked about using PowerPoint's animation to create promotion videos.The second tip was "Stay Simple". Best practices are the "Power of 3", using visually stunning photos, and sticking with a single technology. You can also use visual sentences and infographics to share more information, and PechaKucha presentations to keep you focused.The final tip was "Share Your Vision". This is done by realizing that the initial presentation is just to engage the audience, then you give details through other technologies like blogs, videos, websites and ePortfolios. Telling a story with an emotional component also helps engage an audience.Below are some of the resources shared:PowerPoint SlidesHandout of Links and TechnologiesVideo SummaryTake a minute to share some of your favorite technologies and tips for presentations! (use the comment feature below)

This week's Guest Blogger is Sara Brownell, PhD. Dr. Brownell is a neuroscientist turned full-time education researcher. As a Science Faculty with Education Specialty, she uses both qualitative and quantitative data to better understand how undergraduate biology students learn and how instructors can develop more effective ways to teach.One of the great benefits of being a college-level instructor is that we have great flexibility in what we teach (e.g. what example to use, what level of detail to omit) and how we teach it (e.g. case studies, demonstrations, or traditional lecturing).  However, in designing our lesson plans, we can also be inadvertently choosing who we are teaching to.   This is obvious, but each student is unique and their life experiences before showing up in our classes can be incredibly different.  They come to our classrooms with different prior knowledge in biology, different reading levels, different math abilities, different interests and motivations, and different social identities - race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, political ideology, etc.  We want to create classrooms where we don’t just teach a select few students, but rather we are as inclusive as possible to all students - but this won’t just happen automatically.  We have to be conscious of our own biases and structure our classrooms to promote equity.     A recent study of mine has shown that in large introductory biology classrooms, even though female students make up 60% of the classroom, their voices are only heard 40% of the time.  While we don’t know why there is a gender gap in participation in introductory biology, we do know of a very simple strategy to get rid of this gap: random call.  Instead of having instructors either call on students they know by name or a student who raised his or her hand, an instructor can call names out from a randomized class list.  This ensures equity in who gets the opportunity to share out in class.  A low budget way of doing this is to have students fill out index cards with their personal information on the first day of class to get to know them and then shuffle the cards before class to determine the order of calling on students.  Another easy way to do this (especially in large classes) is to randomize your class list using Excel’s random number generator feature and just bring the printout of the list to class.  For the tech savy instructor, there are even apps that can do this for you! (Click here for a short video about the technology)Although students may balk at being singled out, instructors that do random call are giving students the experience of sharing their ideas in a low-stakes environment. Effective communication of ideas is an important skill for students to develop and in-class participation is a way for them to hone these skills.  However, for random call to work, it is important that instructors create a classroom environment where it is OK if a student does not know the answer and that being wrong does not mean that the student is dumb.  Some students will feel less comfortable sharing in front of the whole class and instructors need to be patient with students and create an atmosphere where the student can participate without feeling judged.  Even if a student shares an incorrect idea, this can be learning experience for the student and the rest of the class.  Instructors need to be mindful that how they react to wrong answers will influence whether students feel safe participating in class.  Random call is just one of many methods that instructors can try to ensure that all students get the same opportunities to participate in class. Additional Resources:For 21 easy teaching strategies to promote equity in your classroom, please see a recent article by Kimberly Tanner: http://www.lifescied.org/content/12/3/322.fullFor more information about gender gaps in introductory biology, please see: http://www.lifescied.org/content/13/3/478.fullClick on the 'pen' below to leave a comment and share your ideas! 

Our Guest Blogger for this week is Shelley Haydel, PhD. Dr. Haydel is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences and a Researcher in the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. She is posting about one of the most difficult areas in teaching for both students and faculty.Group work presents unique challenges for both students and instructors. I always tell my students that they will never work in a vacuum. No matter their career choice, they will have to interact, communicate, and work effectively with others.Think about nurses - they must interact, communicate, and work effectively with physicians, other nurses, technicians, administrators, etc; and they must interact and effectively communicate with patients and family/friends of their patient.Think about working in a lab - in an effective research environment, everyone is working together towards a common goal. The same is true for group work. Students are working together as part of a team to accomplish a goal (i.e. an assignment).Inevitably, problems arise. I have had students do everything from fighting in the hallways to crying in my office. There are students that take over the entire project and those that contribute absolutely nothing. I've found these articles from Carnegie Mellon to be really helpful in starting to implement groups:Grading Methods for GroupworkAssessing Group ProjectsTools for Group ProjectsUltimately, it is the instructors responsibility to deal with all of these issues, and embedded within all of the group work problems is how to deal with grading. I use the following strategies for group interactions and group work grading:I meet with members of the group at least once during the semester to get the "pulse" of the group.For all assignments (written papers, oral presentations, etc.), all students complete partner evaluation rubrics with defined criteria.Peer assessments are confidential, so students alert me of problems and essentially "grade" their group partners in terms of participation, accountability, contributions, etc. Students assess each other at the end of each major assignment.The partner evaluation score is embedded into each student’s grade for each assignment. In other words, a portion of the grade for each assignment is based on contribution and participation within the group. Submitting the partner evaluation and the composite score (I use a range) from the partner evaluations can equal 10-20% of the grade for a particular assignment. Below are some examples of documents I use to support group work and peer assessments:Peer Evaluation - Oral PresentationPeer Evaluation - Grant ProposalPeer Evaluation - Group Project and ResearchIf you have ideas and techniques for working with groups, please click on the pencil below and share your comments!

Which type of video is best for your class?Matthew Robinson, Instructional Designer for UTO, shared best practices for both videos in the studio, and at your desk. Some key themes were:Research studies show students stop watching videos around 6 minutesShowing the professor talking is better than just slides and audio, and having two or three people in the video interacting is even better!"Cut the filler, maximize the THRILLER!"- cut out repeated information and stick to the key information that you can be enthusiastic about. Spontaneous and casual videos are a great way to communicate announcements and give feedback to students. Matthew shared the steps (see handout) for creating these using the Blackboard/YouTube tool and how to set up your webcam for the best look. Next semester, we are looking to do an 'advanced' video webinar that can address some issues for making videos more interactive, and adding closed-captioning and transcripts!Resources:Video recording of session: https://connect.asu.edu/p5vma8ovt52/Files:PowerPoint: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12594701/Tech_Session.pdfAudio/Video Options at ASU: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12594701/AudioVideoTechnologiesatASU.pdfHow to Create Videos with Blackboard: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12594701/VideosInBlackboard%2Bdocx.pdfResearch on Engaging students with Videos: http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/mooc-design-tips-maximizing-the-value-of-video-lectures/Examples:Standard studio video: http://youtu.be/i89tdW5zDVkDialogue Ex1: http://youtu.be/kqwdJ9Ku1C4Dialogue Ex2: http://youtu.be/W1nl4i6fwaAWebcams: http://youtu.be/ZELl3h1Fq88If you have other suggestions for videos, please feel free to share them by clicking on the "Pencil" icon below. 

This week's Guest Blogger is Christina Burden . Christina Burden is a doctoral degree candidate in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience. She has a strong interest in innovative teaching and making time in the classroom effective for students with all learning styles. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory in honey bees and how toxic chemicals disrupt these processes. One of the strengths of active learning is the potential for helping students bridge the gap between a library of facts they must memorize and a conceptual understanding how those facts fit into a working biological system, like a neuron generating an action potential. I do not have a magical formula for creating active learning exercises that morph students’ understanding of a concept from a "mental fact library" to a "mental IMAX." But, I will share three principles I use to help me avoid some common mistakes that can reduce the effectiveness of active learning exercises.Emphasize the correct building blocksProblem: When beginning an exercise, students are grappling with a lot of new information and may have trouble identifying the relevant information for the exercise.Solution: Help students over this hurdle and build the factual foundation for the rest of the exercise, without directly identifying the relevant pieces of information out of their mental fact library, by using a series of review-style questions.From baby steps to dancing - it doesn’t happen overnightProblem: Many students have not developed the critical thinking skills required to move from a mental fact library to working concepts, so when they are presented with a problem that requires integration they respond with merely a conglomeration of facts they think may be relevant.Solution: Begin with simpler straightforward application problems. As the students get more familiar with the material and accustomed to more integrative activities, increase the problem difficulty and the amount of information they must integrate to find the solution. This encourages critical and integrative thinking skills development through out the term.Note: When challenging students with difficult problems, give them opportunities to learn from their mistakes and not just be penalized by them. One way I accomplish this is giving them the opportunity to resubmit questions they answered incorrectly with an explanation of what the correct answer is and why it is correct. If their answer is satisfactory, I give them partial credit for that question. This turns each mistake into a learning opportunity.Keep it simple to keep the focusProblem: It is easy to build elaborate exercises that lose the original focus or try to accomplish too much at one time. At least, this is true for me. Students can easily to get lost in the complexity of the exercise or the details of using the technology and miss the concept I was trying to teach.Solution: When designing an active learning exercise, I ask myself what form of exercise will best illustrate the concept I want students to grasp. Some concepts are best taught with just a simple series of questions leading the students through the concept building process. Other concepts require videos, simulations or other technology for me to get the point across. Regardless of the format or technology I use, I keep every element of the exercise simple and focused on the main concept.What ideas and principles help you design active learning exercises?

In our latest Teach T@lk webinar, we focused on student-centered Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs). These popular and quick activities allow instructors to receive feedback about lesson effectiveness and student understanding. While CATs were developed by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross (1993) with face-to-face teaching in mind, these easy-to-use and often non-graded techniques can be easily adapted to the online or hybrid setting. You might have heard about CATs, such as Minute-Paper, Muddiest Point, or Pro-Con Grids, but did you know these are just three of 50 CATs which instructors can use to gauge student understanding?Check out the following helpful resources to get started with CATs. Please do not hesitate to contact us for . Webinar Materials:recording (56 min.)webinar slides (PDF) ASU TeachOnline Blog: Gauging Student Understanding: CATs are puuuuur-fect Are my students really getting it? CATs will show you the way.Books: Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Josey-Bass. Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2004). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty. Wiley.com. Bonk, C. J., & Zank, K. (2008). Empowering online learning: 100+ activities for reading, reflecting, displaying, and doing. Jossey-Bass.

Most faculty hate the end of the semester, when students start asking them if they could come in and "discuss" their grades. We all know this usually means "Can you give me a better grade?" Many faculty will flat out say that they "Don't negotiate". Others add bolded, underlined, red statements in their syllabi in order to set expectations about grade changes. With that said, we know that students today are being brought up in a world where everything is negotiable, some cultures encourage it, and it doesn't hurt to ask. I’ve found that using some best practices from the business industry, help me get through these difficult situations. In its most simple form, a negotiation is a bargain, where both parties take a side, sometimes meet in the middle, and usually leave the table frustrated. Bargaining in a class means that a student does C level work, but asks for an A. You get frustrated, and to agree to give them a B just to get them out of your office. But it doesn't have to be this 'win/lose' solution.I prefer an approach called "mediation", where both sides can leave the table feeling satisfied. Here are some tips for what I do: Set Up The Meeting: Agree to meet with the student, but begin set a specific time limit. My suggestion is 20 minutes. Make sure you let students know that you will do a hard stop at the end of 20 minutes, and make your final decision. Once that decision is made, you will not be meeting with them again on this subject.Do your "Prep" Work: Take a few minutes to look over their grades, read their email, and become familiar with the issue. I write down a couple of questions for the student. Businesses take time to decide if they feel the relationship is worth building, or if it is a one-time transaction. Faculty need to think about the long term relationship with the student. Is the student going to take future classes in the department, are they going to be doing innovative research, would they make a good TA next year? Is this a relationship that would be good to continue?Focus, Trust, and Clear Expectations: Tell students this is a good faith effort to see if the issue can be resolved. Be sure to portray an open, friendly and respectful tone. Do not be distracted by emails, calls, or others waiting to see you. Help students understand the consequences of this meeting not going well. How will it affect them in the future? Ask them "What outcome beyond the grade would they like to see?" or "What they would do in your situation?" Let them know that you value this opportunity to know them better.Listening is Critical. You should let the student do most of the talking. Allow them to vent their frustrations in a constructive way without you getting defensive or too quickly disagreeing. You will not be successful if you appear to humiliate, intimidate, or pound the desk to get a point across. Try to stay in a neutral position, not agreeing or disagreeing with their statements.Look for Connections. Find opportunities to agree with the student, compliment them, and comment on shared interests.Use Open-ended Questions. Just like in the classroom, here are some types of questions that may be helpful:Clarifying- get a student to discuss specific evidence and examples to support their claims. "Based on what you know, what were the objectives of this assignment?"Probing- Get to the heart of the issue and what they were feeling. "When you received the low score on your test, what actions did you take?"No Tangents. Keep the student focused on the specific issue. If they start going off course, or are not allowing you to inject comments, ask them a closed question (yes or no) that stops them for a second, and allows you to guide them in a different directions.Summarize It is critical that you stop and summarize what you heard them say, what the issue is, and what they would like you to do. Confirm that you have that information correct before proceeding.Decide. Make a clear decision, and give students a compliment.Example "I've heard your comments, I appreciate your desire to get a better grade, but I'm not going to change the grade because you are not able to show me that you are proficient in this topic. I believe that you and I share some common interests... and I look forward to seeing you in future classes. You have a lot to offer, and I'd like to be able to help you reach your goals here." This technique takes some practice, and won’t always go smoothly. I’ve had students come to me later, and thank me for taking this approach with them. I use it for selfish reasons. It gives me an organized approach for dealing with these stressful situations. Now it’s your turn....How do you approach these meetings? What are some tips you have for these situations?