Let's Talk Teaching

CTLT's Charles Bristow returns with good news about the next update to ReggieNet, Illinois State University's customized learning management system... including the debut of a long-awaited new feature! Charles and Jim take a look at the new Rubrics tool, discuss an updated, cleaner interface for managing Tests & Quizzes, and more. Learn all you need to know about changes and improvements that await you for the start of the Fall 2019 semester.

We celebrate our 50th episode with a discussion about THAT phrase… the buzz word of buzz words in the college teaching profession: active learning. We always hear about it, we often talk about it… but are we really doing it? Jim and Claire unpack this ubiquitous phrase and explore examples of what it actually looks like. They highlight the three different components that make active learning "active" and the different ways of introducing students to the trio. Along the way, you'll hear some metaphors being tortured and a potential jeremiad about ham-and-pineapple pizza… but all in the name of helping our students to learn!

Dreading all of that grading at the end of the semester? Wish you could snap your fingers and make it all go away? Claire and Jim explore how much feedback your students really need after those final exams and projects are turned in. They discuss ways of putting a final flourish on their learning without burying yourself under a mountain of feedback that, let’s face it, they may never see.

Claire is teaching a new graduate course this semester, and she says her fresh approach to it is "life changing." She's shifted her methods so her students replace her at the center of their learning. We'll discuss what she's doing in detail and how it can be applied to other classes. Plus, Jim ponders a mystery: Why has this semester seen a jump in absenteeism and late work? All that and more in a podcast which, despite this episode's title, can't afford to license that song from Disney!

What are your students really thinking? In this episode, we discuss CTLT Director Claire Lamonica's new research into Midterm Chats, also known as Small Group Instructional Diagnoses. She provides a preliminary look at how faculty members at Illinois State believe this process improves their teaching. Also, Claire and Jim talk about the importance of making little changes, instead of wholesale revision, to one's teaching.

We take a first look at the theme for the 2019 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium, Contemplative Teaching: Connecting Meaning, Purpose, and Values. Dana Karraker joins us to talk about this wide-ranging approach to making teaching a first-person act. We also talk mindfulness, posters, sessions, and preview both our keynote speaker’s morning workshop and luncheon talk. Plus, breaking news as Claire learns something unexpected about dessert.

The 2019 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium will be held on Wednesday, January 9, at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in uptown Normal. The event is free for faculty, staff, and graduate students at Illinois State and other area institutions. Find out more and register before Friday, December 14, at prodev.illinoisstate.edu/Symposium.

We take a deep dive into the concepts surrounding critical thinking. What is it and how do you know it when you see it? And just how do you get your students to do it? Jeff Rients, Senior Teaching and Learning Specialist at Temple University (and former CTLT graduate assistant) helps us explore critical thinking from a basic definition to advanced ways to assess it as a course-level goal. We also discuss how to incorporate it into your class without reinventing the proverbial wheel.

We kick off our Fall 2018 season with a look at ReggieNet, Illinois State University's customized learning management system. Instructional Developer Charles Bristow joins Jim Gee to discuss new features like the Attendance and Commons tool, introduced in the latest system upgrade. Plus, they look at some long-requested improvements to popular tools like Assignments, Tests & Quizzes, and the Gradebook. They also hint at a future improvement to ReggieNet that almost made it into this update, something exciting enough that Jim makes his happy teacher sound.

Dr. Bill Anderson, an associate professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, is one of the 2017 Outstanding University Teaching Award winners. In this jam-packed episode, Bill and Jim explore the power of interrupted case studies-- a way to foster students' creative thinking by giving them structured opportunities to engage in inference and prediction. They also discuss the value of "stacking the deck" to shepherd learners towards "ah-ha" moments, examine ways to structure class discussion and learning about controversial issues in a safe way, and speculate about what should really be in your statement of teaching philosophy.

Jim and Julie-Ann continue their conversations exploring ways to organize student experiences, including through the use of storytelling. They discuss the importance of moving students from behavior to cognition, and Julie-Ann introduces a new way for students to learn with those tired, old flashcards!