Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Improving Access, Affordability and Student Success with Open Educational Resources

a presentation by Josh Baron, Open Education Ambassador, Lumen Learning, 4/26/2017




This one-hour seminar explored how Open Educational Resources (OER) are eliminating the cost of textbooks while improving student success outcomes and empowering faculty to regain control over their instructional materials.  Findings from recent research studies on the use of OER and how it impacts on content mastery, completion rates and overall success success metrics was shared along with successful strategies for scaling the adoption of OER beyond individual courses.  A brief demonstration of OER customization, personalized learning and integration with Learning Management Systems was also provided.

Speaker Bio: As an Open Education Ambassador at Lumen Learning Mr. Baron works with faculty, student groups and institutional leaders on effective strategies for the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) at scale.  Prior to his current role, Mr. Baron was Assistant Vice President for Information Technology and Digital Education at Marist College where he led the office of Academic Technology which was responsible for supporting instructional technology initiatives, including distance learning, faculty training, and student support.  While at Marist he played a range of leadership roles including serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet. Mr. Baron previously served on both the Sakai Foundation and Apereo Foundation Board of Directors, including as Board Chair, and was Principle Investigator on the Open Academic Analytics Initiative (OAAI).  He graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Aerospace Engineering, holds a MS in Educational Technology Leadership from The George Washington University and has presented at over 100 national and international conferences, including delivering a number of keynotes.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Professional Day: January 18, 2017

Agenda

Presentation, President Christina Royal, Ph.D.

Presentation, Patricia A. Marshall, Ph.D., Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Student Success

Keynote:
Robin DeRosa, Ph.D.
Introduction by Karen Hines, Business Faculty






Roundtable Discussion Descriptions


Afternoon Sessions:

How to Open Your Classroom: Tools and Techniques for Connected Learning

w/ Dr. Robin DeRosa
Robin DeRosa presenting to a filled-room
Click to enlarge




















ThemeFest

Session Agenda

Proposed Themes: 

  1. Holyoke: Community to Campus, Campus to Community
  2. Campus in Motion


Monday, November 21, 2016

Developing Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

a presentation by Dr. Lori Dawson, Professor of Psychology and Teagle Assessment Scholar at Worcester State University, 11/18/2016

Co-sponsored with the General Education Assessment Committee

Faculty and staff participated in a workshop on creating student learning outcomes (SLOs) for courses and programs. Using multiple methods and factors including Bloom's Taxonomy and the dimensions of knowledge and cognitive process, Dr. Lori Dawson, Professor of Psychology and Teagle Assessment Scholar at Worcester State University, explained how faculty can better assess and evaluate teaching and student learning using SLOs. She also discussed how a list of the top 10 desired skills of employers can be communicated and applied in learning goals and corresponding SLOs.

(reported by Jennifer Adams of the HCC Library and PDC member.)


Monday, November 14, 2016

Copyright and Fair Use in Education


PRESENTATION SLIDES

a presentation by Heath Hatch, a practicing attorney and an award winning physics lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 11/9/2016

The recent requirement by HCC to have all printed material to be disseminated to students first checked for copyright infringement has led to many questions across the campus. What is copyright? Under what circumstances would copyright be violated? How can copyright violation be avoided while keeping the cost of student materials down? 
Heath Hatch lecturing
On November 9, Heath Hatch, a UMass physics lecturer and former lawyer joined HCC faculty and staff to educate us on this subject area. Copyright is a form of protection to an author’s expression of an idea. The original expression of the idea is protected for the lifetime of that author plus an additional 70 years. Copyright does NOT protect the idea itself (i.e. formulas, discovery of science are not copyrightable); however, the expression of that idea IS. As soon as an author transcribes this idea, it is considered copyrighted—even if it is not registered nor explicitly states that it is copyrighted. Thus, if an HCC faculty member takes another lecturer’s slides, written work, or pictures to disseminate to their students, he has violated the original author’s copyright. Simply citing the source of the work does not avoid copyright infringement. Although that HCC faculty member may not be at risk of being prosecuted as he can claim fair use—that he was using it solely for teaching purposes--the larger institution (HCC) may be at risk. Thus, HCC wants to protect the institution as a whole from future violations that could lead to their prosecution. 
What can HCC faculty and staff do to avoid copyright violation? Well, they could follow the route suggested by submitting all printed work to Xanedu who assures the original authors are properly compensated. To keep costs down, a link to outside articles could be posted on a course Moodle site (Note-while posting PDF’s of the article does violate copyright, links do not). They could also search for Public Domain works which include any material produced through state and federal funding as this material has been produced with the intention of others using it for free. 
(reported by Emily Rabinsky, biology faculty member and PDC member.)






WATCH: Copyright on Campus for a good overview of points covered in presentation

Q&A During Workshop - Part 1







Monday, May 4, 2015

Food for Thought: Designing Integrative Assignments and Activities

Wednesday, May 13th from 11:30 - 1:30
Campus Center 217 (cafeteria)

As a follow-up to the January professional day workshop, "Themefest": Engagement Matters (For Retention), this session provided faculty and staff with the opportunity to collaborate in the design of food-themed integrative assignments and activities. Representatives from the Library, Student Activities Program, and Integrative Learning Programs were on-hand to work with faculty and staff as they planned assignments and activities that address curricular and co-curricular learning outcomes within the context of real world, food related issues relevant to students’ life experiences and interests. 

Refreshments will be provided.

One Campus One Theme Flyer

Monday, April 13, 2015

SOTL, Service Learning, and Online Design and Teach: What are these Fellows Groups?

a presentation by Faculty Fellows, April 15, 2015

Faculty members participating in SOTL, Service Learning and the Online Design and Teach Fellows program shared their experiences and the work that they've done.



Chris Hoyt presenting to group
Service Learning Fellow Chris Hoyt presenting to group

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Problem Based Learning (PBL)

a presentation by Donna Mastroianni, December 3, 2014

Solving the complex problems of today requires teamwork, problem solving, research and synthesis. In this workshop, participants learned how to design and assess PBL lessons for their students.  

Donna Mastroianni, Biology Professor

What motivated you to begin implementing PBL?
I remember the day I decided that there had to be another way to teach like it was yesterday. I had great visuals, organized notes and some classroom activities to complete. I was explaining a concept and looked out into the crowd and saw disengaged students. That night I started researching different pedagogy.
How did you discover PBL?
I was searching for a more interactive method to teach Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) when I stumbled upon several articles about Problem Based Learning. One of these sites was at the University of Delaware (UD). UD had recently transformed many of their undergraduate courses by implementing PBL. I attended a conference there and was inspired. 
How has PBL positively impacted teaching and learning in your classroom?
In PBL the problems are used to motivate students to identify and research concepts they need to know to work through the problem. PBL requires the student to think critically and to be able to analyze information presented. PBL also requires students to work cooperatively in groups and to demonstrate effective verbal and written communication. 
PBL days in the classroom are noisy and require more energy than lecturing.  
What are the biggest challenges to PBL?
I think the biggest challenge for the instructor is relinquishing control in the classroom. I still struggle with this. I think as an educator you have to be ok with not covering as much content as you would in a straight lecture class. The trade off is students learn things in more depth, with better understanding and there is an increased chance the concept will stay with them longer.
I think it is also difficult at times to sit back and let the students figure things out on their own. You have to be ok with letting them flounder a little, knowing you can fill in the missing pieces or clear up misconceptions at the end of the problem.
Another challenge is resistance from the students. Many students do not enjoy working in groups due to social reasons or because they do not want the group work to affect their grade.
What advice do you have for your colleagues interested in PBL?
I think if you are interested in PBL but hesitant to try it, I would start small and implement one problem in your course.  There are so many resources out there that you don’t even have to write the problem. It is worth taking the chance. I am happy to meet with anyone who is interested in PBL.
Is there anything else you want to add?
I’m often asked,  “How do you assess what they’ve learned?”
The simplest way is to incorporate the concepts of the problem into tests and quiz questions, but there are many other assessment tools to measure mastery of the material. I always have test questions on each problem, but I also have the students produce some type of ‘product’ to show mastery. It can be a group project or an individual project. The project could be a group power point presentation, a poster, an infographic, a podcast or writing a newspaper article, etc. I also have the students anonymously grade their group mates on effort and teamwork for every problem. This helps to insure that no one gets a free ride and that group mates are held accountable for their actions and contribution to the workings of the group. There are a lot of resources available for organizing groups.

Resources: 
Problem-Based Learning at the University of Delaware - Register to access their clearinghouse to find great problems for your class.

Faculty participants working on a "problem"


Faculty participants discussing a "problem"