NISOD's International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence

Once classes ended in May and grades were submitted, I packed my bags and headed to hot and humid Austin, Texas, for NISOD's annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. The conference was inspiring, and I wanted to use this space to share some of the highlights from my experience.

This was the first professional conference where I attended one of the preconference seminars, and it was well worth the small fee charged for attendance. Karla A. Fisher and Meg McGranaghan of Butler Community College, C. Jason Smith of LaGuardia Community College, and Kerry Keith Mix of San Jacinto College presented on Engaging Students with Technology. It was a fabulous session. Some of the key points from that session include the following:

• Age gaps still remain for Web 2.0 technologies, and the 2009 CCSSE data tells us so; however, since data consistently reveals that a student having connections with other students helps them persist, social networking tools like Facebook can be a great way to help students build relationships with one another.
  
• The question the facilitators asked us over and over were "Does your institution effectively use technology to engage students?"
• Suggested ways instructors can employ technology in our classes include Google Groups and Blogs--using a blog as a way to link students in different classes, helping student interact with others in a tutoring capacity, peer mentoring capacity, or for online projects, online critiques, and online discussion across classes. Check out the way C. Jason Smith visually represented how he uses this in his classes in his blog post about the conference. And, while you're there, look at all that LCC's Community 2.0 has to offer. This is an excellent example of how one college took building learning communities to a whole new level.
  
• I was introduced to Pecha Kucha. When I have students complete presentations in my classes in the future, I think this would be a great way to help them structure presentations and force them to think carefully about the information they want to present. It would eliminate all that reading directly from the slides that we see so often in our classes. Not sure how to pronounce this, watch this video. Love it!

• Meg McGranaghan made an excellent Symbaloo to show various Web 2.0 tools instructors can use, and she did this by ordering the Web 2.0 tools using Bloom's Taxonomy. A super cool idea! Check it out!
• Kerry Keith Mix, of San Jacinto College, discussed his institution's work with social media, and how the college worked diligently to harness the power of social media while also framing that power so that it didn't get out of hand. They hired a full-time social media coordinator and developed guidelines for all employees to follow when employing social media. I found this incredibly relevant to our work here at CMC.

At the general conference, I left several sessions with ideas I want to incorporate into my classroom at CMC. David Katz III, Associate Professor of Political science and Coordinator of Professional Development at Mohawk Valley Community College, shared a positive message with participants in his session Emotional Intelligence, Student Efficacy, and Student Success. He talked about creating resonance with our students because a student's success at college is based on what we believe and what we expect to happen. "What we and our students focus on develops a physical connection in our brains and creates a biologically self-fulfilling prophecy," Katz said. "We have to groove the idea that they have strengths. We have to be flexible. And, we have to assess in multiple ways." Essentially, Katz reminded me that if I want students to believe they can achieve, I have to reinforce their strengths, pointing out 7 strengths for every 1 weakness because every communication creates an emotional impact. This is the kind of knowledge that will improve any relationship--not just those with students. I think Katz would be a great person to bring to CMC for an all-faculty in-service. His positive attitude and enthusiasm for student success is contagious! It's no wonder he's been such a successful college coach!

Another excellent session was presented by Gail O. Lancaster of St. Petersburg College. She spoke on strategies instructors can use to improve students' critical thinking skills, and she modeled those in her presentation. Citing the research of Spence Rogers, L.D. Fink, and Gerald Nosich, she reminded those in attendance that critical thinking isn't something you add to the curriculum; it is conveyed in HOW you teach. And, perhaps more importantly, she noted that students have to WANT to acheive intellectual traits. Then, Lancaster provided her Top Ten Strategies for engaging critical thinking:

1. Create a safe environment.
2. Get students to know each other.
3. Assign outside reading, but do not review the reading in detail in class.
   
4. Conduct 5-minute quiz at the beginning of each class.
   
5. Do not lecture more than 20% of the total class time. She recommended the "Involving Course Model": Preview and Review > Lecture (20%) > Real World (20%)--guest speaker, case study, current events > Excercise (20%)--application > Conversation (20%) > Assignments > Quiz and Evaluation
   
6. Involve all students in discussions, and when they are discussing in groups, assign individuals in the group the roles of stating (in your own words), elaborating (saying in different words), providing example (give an example within the content/life experience), and illustrating (draw an analogy, metaphor, chart, diagram, cartoon).
   
7. Ask essential questions (analytic, evaluative, questioning within disciplines, questioning for self-knowledge and self-development).
   
8. Employ Socratic Questioning (see "The Art of Socratic Questioning" by Paul and Elder)
   
9. Ask students to write the logic of an article or chapter in the text. (see "The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools" by Paul and Elder)
10. Relate the current topic or course to the whole (system, discipline). For instance, how/where does this fit in with our field of study? How does this topic relate to other topics we have studied? What information are we still missing? What information do we need next?

I also presented at the conference, in a session titled, "It's a Wiki Wiki World: Collaborating Across the Digital Divide." In my session, I focused on the conundrum many faculty face when it comes to teaching with technology: How do we use technology to enrich the learning experience when some of our students are tech savvy, and some are not? In addition, we discussed the reponsibility faculty have to learn and employ technology, and then I showed some of the ways that I have employed Web 2.0 technologies (like wikis, cell polling, screencasting, and social networking tools) in my classrooms at CMC.

To the Roaring Fork Campus Professional Development Funds Committee, I want to say a big Thank You for funding my travel to Austin for this excellent conference!