How do you provide feedback for online submissions?

Providing feedback is straightforward when you have a student's paper in hand -- (1) click pen and (2) begin writing (or scrawling, for us left-handers). For online classes it is not quite this simple to provide in-text feedback but it certainly can, and should, be done. I prefer to use the "comments" feature of Word. I open the student submission and immediately save it as a new file. As I read the paper I can highlight specific portions of text and add a comment bubble on the right hand margin of the page. The text becomes highlighted and a line is drawn from the text to the bubble.

In the bubbles I can provide positive reinforcement ("this is a well-supported assertion"), comment on format ("you need to provide a citation for these facts"), ask questions ("if you had to make the opposing point, how would you do it?"), provide constructive criticism ("this paragraph might have worked better under the prior section"), or provide food for thought ("if you are interested in learning more about eminent domain, I suggest your read the Kelo case").

These are the steps for inserting a comment (the screencast provides a quick demonstration of how to do it, as well):

1. Highlight text on which you wish to comment

2. Click "Insert" on the top tool bar

3. Select "Comment" and a bubble will appear to the right of the text

4. Type your comments in the bubble.

Be sure that students have Word set to "View Markup" so that they can view the comments you provide.

As demonstrated in the screencast, I also like to copy and paste the rubric on the final page of the student's submission. This creates a unified, triple-play of feedback: specific comments in the text of the paper, numerical assessment through the rubric, and general comments at the end. This is just one system. Please feel free to let us know the system that you use.

I know that the screencast is a bit small. If you want to view it in a larger format (Windows Media), click here.

Taking off the "Teacher Mask"

Before writing his acclaimed memoir Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (who passed away last month) was a high school English teacher in Manhattan.

One of his former students recently wrote an essay in tribute to McCourt which included this praise:

"Frank McCourt was a wonderful teacher. He wanted us to take our blinders off, reflect on the world broadly, get off the professional treadmill, and note the things around us. He was able to touch us so effectively, I suspect, because, just as he sought to escape the suffocating provincialism of Limerick, he knew many of us were seeking to escape the parochialism of our own families' lives." (Kenneth R. Weinstein, The Master of Class 205, printed in The Weekly Standard, August 3, 2009).

That observation from a past student neatly folds into McCourt's own self assessment. In a 2007 address to Syracuse University's graduating class, McCourt credited his teaching success on two factors: (1) extirpating his pomposity, and (2) learning about himself. He put it this way:

"I had to take off the teacher mask, which so many of us put on at the beginning; the mask that says: 'Well, I'm the teacher and I know it all. You sit there and I'll tell you.'"

I wonder if we, as adjuncts, wear more or fewer "masks" than our full-time counterparts. I think some of our masks are borne not out of pomposity but out of insecurity. It takes a certain confidence to take the risks that student-centered teaching requires, yes? Isn't the theory rooted in heavy reliance on others (the students) for a successful class?

In any event, the article and the commencement address both are worth a read. Even though McCourt taught high school, I think there are ideas that transfer to the college setting.

What research sources do you accept?

It probably would be hypocritical to ruminate on information overload using, as a vehicle, a blog. So let’s just stipulate that our students must weed through and evaluate much information in pursuit of valid facts. We assist that effort by teaching information literacy regarding our disciplines, setting standards for sources we will accept, and providing feedback on research through comments and rubrics.

For example, when I teach a law class, I will mention at the outset that Centenary students have free access to Lexis Nexis, which is the exact database major law firms pay great sums to use in battle. If I want students to rely on legal cases rather than Wikipedia, I have to help them find those cases.

In some of the standard syllabi, you will see that the assignment instructions require students to find and rely upon “peer reviewed journals.” This steers students to filter their searches in order to retrieve journal articles that were reviewed by a panel or a subject matter expert prior to publication. For integrity purposes, the peer review often is done without knowledge of who authored the paper.

The multi-purposed EBSCO database, for instance, makes it easy to decipher a peer reviewed paper. In addition to setting date and topic parameters, you can limit search results to "peer reviewed articles." The screen shot below shows this option. EBSCO also provides a definition of what they consider a peer reviewed article.

Did you know that Google, also, allows you to filter your searches for “scholarly materials”? The next time you are on the Google site, look at the top of the page, click the down arrow next to the word “more”, and select “Scholar” from the menu. It’s an interesting way to tidy up your search results.

The bottom line is that you know your disciplines and the type of information that practitioners rely upon in making decisions. Equipping students with information literacy for a specific field can become an important part of the learning in your class.

What type of sources do you allow and disallow? Post a comment to this entry and let us know your approach.

As a postscript, maybe I should take a quick step back here: In case you did not know, Centenary College instructors and students all have free access to a wide variety of online databases. To access them, log into Blackboard, find the link for Centenary College Library Website, and click “search databases.” If prompted, the password credentials are the same you use to log into Blackboard.

I hope you find this post to be a reliable source. I warn you though, it has not been peer reviewed.

How do you catch plagiarism?

Technology makes researching easier. Unfortunately, it does the same for cheating. I’m sure many of you can attest to the sinking feeling you get when grading a paper and noticing a sudden change in font or writing style. Those are telltale signs that you are reading something cut-and-pasted – one drag of the mouse, one quick click -- from a website. And then there is a rush of mixed sensations as you abort the attempt to have your eyes draped in wool: indignation, disappointment, anger, and, probably, uncertainty about what to do next.

You smell smoke but are yet to find the fire. Chances are, sometimes, through no fault of your own, you do not even smell the smoke. And others time you just cannot locate the fire. It is an unfortunate truth that detecting and proving plagiarism is complicated work, but the integrity of our program requires that we do so vigilantly.

There is a nice tool in Blackboard that can help: Turnitin.com. This is an anti-plagiarism software program that will check a submitted paper against a vast database of web materials and prior student work. The paper is collected through a specially created link. This automatically submits the paper to Turnitin.com and generates a report which highlights “matches” and assesses the percent of the paper that is not unique. It will catch word-for-word matches and also instances where wording is slightly altered.

Use of Turnitin.com is mandatory for Business Department courses. Those teaching others should strongly consider implementing it.

In a prior post, I explained how to set up an Assignment link in Blackboard. Setting up a Turnitin.com assignment link is similar. To assist you, our ever-resourceful Blackboard Director, Paul Vitagliano, has created a video tutorial and a step guide for setting up and managing a Turnitin.com assignment. Please review and share your questions or experiences by posting a “comment” to this post.

While Turnitin.com is a nice tool, it is not foolproof. There are international web services that will research and write a customized paper for students using the specific guidelines of the instructor. I’ve seen these papers and they are very good in a very bad way. That’s another post for another day.

Fulfilling Dual Roles - Is Socializing with Students Acceptable?

How would you respond to this invitation: “Professor, our cohort is going out for dinner and a few drinks to celebrate the end of another class. We would love it if you would join us.”

To complicate it, let’s assume that you really connected – personally and intellectually --with this group of adults over the course of eight weeks. Plus you’re down-right famished and just a little bit dry. Being that the invitation is an offshoot of your professional relationship with your students, must you look beyond hunger or thirst levels as the rationale for your choice?

Situations like these force adjuncts to consider the ethical boundaries, not always drawn with bright lines, of interaction with students outside of the classroom. You can find the horns of a dilemma here. Research shows that interacting with instructors outside the classroom can positively benefit a student socially and academically (see the prior entry on emotional intelligence in the classroom). At the same time, by socializing with students, the instructor might enjoy a power differential, risk losing objectivity, and undermine the professional nature of the relationship. (Rupert at 662).

With those competing interests in mind, what are your available options?

Does the fact that this is an adult program alter the equation? Does the timing of the invite – after the course rather than during it – matter? What if the request came from a single student rather than the whole class?

There is some interesting research on the contours of the professor-student relationship. Click here for an article in the Journal of Higher Education that explores “dual relationships” in higher education. Click here for an article using short case studies to consider ethical issues facing college professors (including social invites). And finally, click here for an offbeat article about an instructor who hosts colleagues and students at his home bar. What do you think about that?

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Reference: Rupert, Patricia A. and Holmes, Deborah L., Dual relationships in higher education. Journal of Higher Education; Nov/Dec97, Vol. 68 Issue 6, p660-678.

Mark Burgess wins Adjunct Award

Congratulations to Mark Burgess (pictured, left) for earning the 2009 Joel A. Kobert Distinguished Teaching Award, which is "presented annually to outstanding [Centenary College] adjunct faculty members in recognition of their excellence in teaching."

That accomplishment was recognized at the May Commencement ceremony (to the surprise of Mark, who, as I understand it, contentedly attended the ceremony thinking he was just a spectator). To me this is pleasing news, but certainly not surprising.

The official and unofficial feedback depicts Mark as a student favorite who knows how to animate his classes by tapping into real-world experience. That real world experience is not in short supply -- Mark is the Director of Marketing at Spectrotel, Inc. and responsible for all marketing and e-commerce activity.

Most importantly, perhaps, students frequently report that they are taking what they learn in his class…and using it. That's high praise in an adult business program.

To honor Mark's accomplishment, I decided to set aside some cyberspace so that he could share with us his teaching philosophy. In response to my request, Mark graciously provided the response below. Take it away, Mark...

Anthony asked me to write a few words about my teaching philosophy at Centenary. Here is what I focus on for each course.

1) Intense preparation based on the existing course materials.

2) Create new content that works with the existing course materials, e.g., relevant presentations, cases, real-life examples, etc. Basically, make the subject as current as possible.

3) Involve the students in the class discussions. Group activities are great, too. Go online. Use the Web in class. Teach them things they can apply immediately at work (today and tomorrow).

4)Ask students what their expectations are at the beginning of the first class.

5) Based on their feedback, brainstorm ways to exceed their expectations.

6) At the end of each course, ask the students if their expectations were met. Listen. Learn. Live the marketing concept. Get feedback and apply what you have learned.

My primary goal is to make each student understand and love the subject (Marketing) and to make learning an enjoyable experience. If you follow these suggestions, your students will look forward to coming to class (so will you). I believe that our students are counting on the instructor to raise the bar of excellence. Centenary students deserve the best we can deliver. Be enthusiastic. Enjoy what you do. Have fun. To quote an old Army campaign slogan, as an instructor, be the best you can be.

Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom

In reading Richard Lyon's excellent book "Success Strategies for Adjunct Faculty", I was struck by a passage he wrote about the factors impacting student success and satisfaction:

"Another commonly cited factor, teacher's knowledge of subject, was found in another major study to be the ninth most important dimension in both student achievement and student satisfaction ratings. Among more significant factors were teacher's clarity, stimulation of interest, openness to opinions, and sensitivity to class progress -- each largely functions of emotional intelligence." (Lyons 17).

Juxtapose that with the following research finding from Vincent Tinto, a Syracuse University professor and expert on retention:

"The frequency and quality of contact with faculty, staff, and other students is an important independent predictor of student persistence. This is true for large and small, rural and urban, public and private, and 2-and 4-year colleges and universities. It is true for women as well as men, students of color and anglo students, and part-time and full-time students. Simply put, involvement matters, and at no point does it matter more than during the first year of college when student attachments are so tenuous and the pull of the institution so weak." (Tinto, p. 3).

If you accept these ideas, in tandem they seem to suggest that we cannot run a successful classroom on the lights of our subject matter expertise, alone. There is a true human element in the learning process. Making a human connection with the students requires us to come out from behind the podium, step away from the Power Point presentation, and get to know and empathize with our students.

Maybe in preparation for my next business law course, I’ll have to read Daniel Goleman’s “Emotional Intelligence” in addition to brushing up on torts and contracts

I’d be curious to know, do your experiences bear out the premises of those quotes?

References:

Lyons, Richard E., Success Strategies for Adjunct Faculty (2004)

Tinto, Vincent, Taking Student Retention Seriously (2006)